PROGRESS  OF  NEW  YORK  IN  A  CENXUK.Y. 

1776-1876. 

AN  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THEj 

NEW    YORK    HISTORICAI.  ^SOCIETY. 

DECEMBER    7,  1875, 
BY 

JOHN    AUSTIN  STEVENS. 


NEW  YORK : 
PRINTED    FOR    THE  SOCIETY 
1876. 


icx  IGtbrta 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


PROGRESS  OF  NEW  YORK  IN  A  CENTURY. 

1776-1876. 

AN  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

NEW    YORK    HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

DECEMBER     7,  1875, 
BY 

JOHN    AUSTIN  STEVENS. 


NEW  YORK: 
PRINTED    FOR    THE  SOCIETY. 
1876. 


« 


NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

At  a  stated  meeting  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  held  in  its  Hall 
on  Tuesday  Evening,  December  7th,  1875: 

Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens  read  the  paper  of  the  evening  on  "  The  Progress 
of  New  York  in  a  Century.    1 776-1876." 

On  its  conclusion,  Mr.  George  H.  Moore  submitted  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  seconded  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood,  and  adopted  : 

Resolved^  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  presented  to  Mr.  Stevens,  for  his 
valuable  paper  read  this  evening,  and  that  a  copy  be  requested  for  publication. 

Extract  from  the  Minutes, 

ANDREW  WARNER, 

Recording  Secretary. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  NEW  YORK  IN  A  CENTURY. 


1776-1876. 


Mr.  President  and  Members 

OF  the  New  York  Historical  Society  : 

The  members  of  this  Society  Avill  remember  that  early  last 
winter  a  petition  was  addressed  by  it  to  the  Governor  and 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  praying  for  authority 
to  prepare  a  Memorial  Volume,  showing  the  growth  of  the 
State  during  the  last  century  ;  and  it  was  respectfully  urged 
that  no  more  fitting  contribution  could  be  made  by  the  State 
to  the  International  Exhibition,  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia, 
than  a  faithful  record  of  the  progress  of  this  great  commu- 
nity in  political,  civil,  and  social  life.  Other  and  more 
pressing  duties  have,  no  doubt,  hindered  the  Governor  of 
the  State  from  paying  any  regard  to  this  request,  and  the 
petition  left  in  his  hands  by  the  Committee  of  this  Society 
has  never  been  presented  to  the  Legislature.  A  further 
effort  will  be  made  at  the  approaching  session,  though  the 
time  is  short  for  such  an  exhibit  as  the  extent  and  nature  of 
the  subject  demand. 

It  has  not  been  the  habit  of  New  York  to  pause  in  its 
march  to  count  the  milestones  which  mark  its  progress.  In 
the  many  new  duties  which  perpetually  crowd  themselves 
upon  this  busy  community,  there  has  been  little  time  for 
such  considerations,  and  only  here  and  there  sketches  like 
those  of  Duer,  Francis,  and  King  have  attracted  passing 
notice  ;  but  now  that  in  the  depression  which  almost  in- 
evitably follows  a  period  of  unusual  activity,  there  is  a 
moment  of  pause  and  discouragement,  the  thought  may  be 
profitably  turned  backward,  new  hope  be  derived  from  a 
retrospective  view,  and  new  courage  drawn  from  the  example 

of  that  wondrous  activity  which,  from  a  depth  of  misery  un- 
I 


4 


NEW  YORK  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 


paralleled  in  the  history  of  an)'  other  of  the  colonial  cities, 
has  lifted  New  York  to  its  undisputed  pre-eminence  as  the 
metropolitan  cit}'  of  the  Western  Continent,  and  its  rank 
amon*.^  the  few  cosmopolitan  cities  of  the  world. 

I'^arly  in  the  war  the  British  Government  recognized  the 
importance  of  occupying  the  city  of  New  York  as  a  military 
post  and  a  basis  of  supplies.  Repeating  the  strategy,  old  as 
war  itself,  of  dividing  the  hostile  territory  by  seizing  the 
great  rivers  which  serve  at  once  as  lines  of  separation  and 
easy  avenues  of  transportation,  the  plan  of  subjugation  in- 
cluded the  occupation  of  Quebec  and  New  York,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  line  of  almost  unbroken  water  commu- 
nication by  the  Hudson  and  St.  Lawrence,  navigable  high 
up  for  vessels  of  the  largest  size,  which  should  isolate  the 
great  and  populous  New  England  colony  from  those  of  the 
Middle  region.  With  these  magnificent  harbors,  at  which  all 
her  fleets  could  ride  at  easy  anchor,  Great  Britain  was  sure 
of  safe  and  convenient  bases  for  the  operation  of  her  troops  ; 
and  her  vessels  could  patrol  the  long  broad  streams  as  safely 
as  the  warlike  vessels  of  the  old  Northmen  the  streams  and 
lakes  of  Southern  Europe,  from  the  Seine  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean. A  similar  policy  adopted  by  the  great  Union  com- 
manders during  the  late  war  held  the  Ohio  and  the  Tennes- 
see with  gunboats,  and  again  dividing  the  Confederacy  by 
the  broad  and  rapid  course  of  the  Mississippi,  insured  the 
final  triumph  of  the  national  arms.  The  failure  of  Great 
Britain  was  not  a  consequence  of  her  strategy,  but  inherent 
to  the  condition  of  the  two  countries.  A  careful  perusal  of 
the  journals  of  the  day,  which  abound  in  papers  of  remark- 
able vigor  and  sagacity,  amply  shows  that  there  was  never 
a  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  colonists  of  their  ability  to 
achieve  their  independence.  Nor  is  it  at  all  probable  that, 
even  with  entire  union  in  the  councils  of  Great  Britain,  there 
could  have  been  any  other  result.  Indeed,  as  early  as  1740 
serious  alarm  had  been  felt  in  England  by  the  Ministry,  and 
a  defection  of  the  colonies  feared. 

Great  Britain,  rich  in  every  appliance  of  civilization,  whose 
foundries  and  manufactories  had  increased  manv  fold  her 


NEW  YORK  IX  THE  REVOLUTION. 


5 


manual  force  by  mechanical  contrivance,  was  poor  in  men. 
The  complaint  of  Goldsmith,  made  in  the  "  Deserted  Vil- 
lage," in  1770,  was  still  fresh  in  the  ears  of  his  countryman, 
and  his  sigh  of  regret  over  the  time 

— *•  Ere  England's  griefs  began, 
When  every  rood  of  ground  maintained  its  man," 

had  been  wafted  across  the  Atlantic  to  those  of  a  race  who 
knew  no  such  sorrow.  In  the  land  struggles  of  the  Continen- 
tal powers,  where  men  were  abundant  and  the  material  of  war 
was  scarce,  the  wealth  and  resources  of  Great  Britain  had 
always  turned  the  scale,  and  on  the  sea  she  had  proclaimed  a 
policy  of  exclusion  and  imperial  assumption  which,  since  the 
defeat  of  the  Dutch  fleet,  had  never  received  more  than  tem- 
porary check.  But  the  contest  with  the  colonies  was  to  be  ot 
man  to  man  with  a  race  to  whom  the  very  struggles  for  mas- 
tery of  the  continent  with  the  old  enemy,  France,  had  taught 
the  secrets  of  military  science.  In  this  contest  no  ingenuity 
or  contrivance  could  make  up  for  numerical  inferiority,  nor 
could  the  British  Government  hope  for  any  serious  advantage 
from  local  divisions  or  dissensions.  With  but  few  inconsider- 
able exceptions  the  colonists  were  of  one  mind,  and  though 
there  were  many,  particularly  in  New  York,  of  direct  or  near 
English  descent,  who  were  unwilling  to  take  up  arms  against 
their  immediate  kindred,  yet  their  secret  sympathies  were  all 
with  their  old  companions  and  friends.  The  American  spirit 
was  already  strong.  The  king  had  said,  "  the  test  of  the 
colonies  is  submission."  But  the  colonies  had  been  founded 
by  men  who  would  not  submit  to  arbitrary  rule,  whether 
priestly  or  regal.  The  first  act  of  repression  crystallized  re- 
sistance, and  consolidated  hesitating  opinions  into  firm  and  set 
resolve. 

It  was  the  misfortune  of  New  York,  to  whose  sagacity  and 
inflexible  resolve  the  union  of  the  colonies  was  chiefly  due, 
that  she  should  be,  from  her  position  of  natural  and  central 
advantage,  the  seat  of  hostile  occupation.  The  American 
leaders  foreseeing,  if  not  informed  of  the  strategy  of  the  enemy, 
had  failed  in  their  first  efforts  to  thwart  its  accomplishment. 


6 


TlIK  l^RITISH  OCCUPATION. 


The  attack  upon  Quebec  had  been  repulsed,  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence hiy  open  from  its  mouth  to  the  Lakes.  The  Hne  of  the 
Hudson  became  now  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  while  the 
northern  army  was  slowly  gathering  for  its  defence,  Wash- 
ington moved  from  the  eastward  to  New  York,  to  cover  the 
city  and  prevent  the  landing  of  Lord  Howe.  His  efforts  were 
fruitless;  on  the  22d  August,  1776,  the  British  troops  were 
safely  landed  on  Long  Island,  under  the  guns  of  the  fleet, 
and  Washington,  defeated  in  a  disastrous  battle  on  the  27th, 
retreated  across  the  river  and  prepared  for  the  abandonment 
of  the  city. 

It  is  hardly  possible  for  those  who  have  never  personally 
witnessed  the  capture  of  a  great  city  to  realize  the  anxiety  and 
gloom  which  fall  upon  the  unfortunate  population — an  anxiety 
and  gloom  to  which  civil  war  adds  double  horrors.  The  re- 
sult of  the  battle  of  Long  Island  filled  New  York  with  alarm, 
the  apprehensions  of  the  citizens  being  heightened  by  the 
memory  of  their  struggles  in  the  past  with  the  royal  troops, 
who  had  many  a  discomfiture  to  avenge.  Numbers  hastily 
followed  the  retreating  army,  including  many  sick  and  help- 
less, for  whom  Gen.  Washington  had  provided  with  humane 
foresight. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  1776,  the  British  troops  took 
possession  of  the  city,  and  in  their  train  were  refugees  from  all 
sections.  Later,  traders  and  speculators  came  in  hordes  by 
every  transport  fleet  from  Great  Britain,  and  a  large  business 
sprung  up  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  army  supplies,  but  the 
city  itself  found  no  profit  in  this  abnormal  traffic.  Its  legiti- 
mate occupation  as  the  outlet  and  inlet  of  product  and  sup- 
plies for  a  large  section  of  country  entirely  disappeared,  and 
its  merchants,  one  by  one,  gave  way  to  hucksters  and  petty 
traders  whose  interest  was  limited  by  and  dependent  upon 
the  British  occupation.  The  streets  and  buildings  were 
allowed  to  go  to  decay,  with  the  exception  of  temporary 
repairs  for  sanitary  reasons,  and  the  glories  of  the  once 
thriving  city  were  but  a  story  of  the  past.  Two  terrible  con- 
flagrations added  to  the  measure  of  distress  and  ruin.  Hardly 
had  the  British  troops  taken  possession  ere  (on  the  21st  of 


THE  BRITISH  OCCUPATION. 


7 


September,  1776)  a  disastrous  fire,  breaking  out  in  a  small 
wooden  house  on  the  wharf  near  Whitehall,  occupied  by 
dissolute  characters,  spread  to  the  northward,  and  consumed 
the  entire  city  westward  of  Broadway  to  the  very  northern- 
most limit.  In  this  terrible  calamity,  which  owed  its  extent 
to  the  desertion  of  the  city  and  the  terror  of  the  few  remain- 
ing inhabitants,  493  houses  were  destroyed,  including  old 
Trinity  and  the  Lutheran  Church.  Another  destructive  fire 
broke  out  on  Cruger's  wharf  on  the  3d  of  August,  1778,  and 
burned  about  54  houses. 

At  last  the  fortune  of  war  changed.  The  thunder  of  the 
American  artillery  at  Saratoga,  where  the  sons  of  New  York 
were  in  full  force  on  her  own  battle-field,  and  at  Yorktown, 
where  the  same  gallant  corps  vied  in  friendly  and  not  unequal 
rivalry  with  the  trained  officers  of  France,  had  cleared  the 
sky,  and  beneath  the  smoke  of  battle  peace  was  dawning  in 
the  near  horizon.  On  the  24th  of  March,  1783,  Robert  R. 
Livingston,  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  notified  Wash- 
ington, then  at  West  Point,  of  the  agreeable  intelligence  of  a 
general  peace,  and  on  the  9th  of  April  following,  at  12  o'clock, 
peace  was  proclaimed  from  the  steps  of  the  City  Hall  by  the 
Town  Major.  The  patriots  were  in  giee,  the  English  occu- 
pants and  their  friends  in  alarm.  Oliver  de  Lancey,  the 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Royal  army,  issued  a  proclamation 
a  few  days  later,  offering  transportation  to  all  those  who 
wished  to  withdraw  from  the  city,  and  measures  were  taken 
to  establish  a  refugee  colony  in  Nova  Scotia.  During  the 
summer  there  was  a  constant  departure  by  the  fleets,  and 
the  Whigs  began  to  pour  into  the  city  and  take  possession 
of  their  deserted  homes  and  estates.  Feeling  ran  high,  and 
the  remaining  loyalists  awaited  in  terror  the  hour  when  the 
final  withdrawal  of  the  British  forces  should  leave  them  help- 
less at  the  mercy  of  the  irritated  patriots.  The  prudent  fore- 
sight of  Gen.  Washington,  counselling  moderation  and 
steady  behavior,"  and  the  wise  precautions  of  Gov.  Clinton, 
happily  arrested  any  disposition  to  excess,  and  in  this  they 
were  nobly  seconded  by  the  Whig  leaders,  who  at  the  meet- 
ing to  prepare  for  the  reception  of  the  American  troops, 


s 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITV. 


after  a  sii^nification  of  their  opinion  of  those  who  had  remain- 
eti  in  the  city  during  the  British  occupation,  by  a  request 
that  an\'  sucii  withdraw  from  the  room,  pledged  themselves 
to  "  prevent  any  confusion  that  may  arise  on  and  after  the 
day  of  evacuation."  On  the  25th  day  of  November  the 
American  army,  under  the  command  of  Major-Gen.  Henry 
Knox,  marched  from  Harlem  to  the  Bowery  lane,  where  they 
remained  until  i  o'clock,  when,  the  British  posts  being  with- 
drawn, the  American  column  marched  in  and  took  possession 
of  the  city.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  grateful  to  New 
York  than  this  disposition,  for  in  Knox's  artillery  command 
was  the  favorite  regiment,  commanded  by  Col.  John  Lamb, 
and  officered  by  men  who  like  himself  \v'ere  of  the  earlier 
Patriots  and  Sons  of  Liberty.  The  new  era  began  upon  this 
day  ;  henceforth  New  York  is  to  move  on  her  marvellous 
career.  Stripped  of  everything,  her  streets  in  decay,  her 
halls  in  dilapidation,  her  churches  burned,  desecrated,  or 
abused,  whole  sections  charred  and  blackened  ruins,  her 
shops  empty — the  retiring  tradesmen  having  conveyed  away 
their  goods  as  well  as  their  profits — her  tenements  vacant,  her 
citizens  in  poverty  and  rags  ;  a  city  of  desolation  ;  yet  like 
the  athlete  who  has  thrown  aside  every  external  trapping,  and 
stands  stripped  to  the  loins  for  the  contest  which  is  to  strain 
every  nerve  and  draw  each  muscle  to  the  utmost  tension,  a 
contest  of  which  fame,  and  wealth,  and  honor  arc  the  reward, 
she  is  the  stronger  for  her  nakedness.  In  a  few  years  she 
appears  reorganized,  rebuilt,  with  new  architecture,  new  in- 
stitutions, yV?^//^'  princeps  the  imperial  city  of  the  continent. 

Though  New  York  had  suffered  the  change  in  its  physical 
surface  and  interior  life,  which  is  in  every  city  the  result  of 
foreign  hostile  occupation,  varying  its  purpose  and  pursuits, 
diverting  its  channels  of  industry,  and  disturbing  its  social 
organization,  the  limits  of  the  city  itself  were  the  same  in 
1783  as  on  the  outbreak  of  war  in  1775-  The  area  of  the 
city  at  this  time  may  be  described  as  comprised  within  a  line 
drawn  from  the  North  River  at  the  foot  of  Reade  street 
across  the  island  in  an  easterly  direction  to  the  East  River  at 
the  foot  of  Catharine  street.    Within  this  surface,  which  was 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITY. 


9 


divided  into  six  wards,  known  from  the  time  of  the  charter 
granted  by  Gov.  Montgomerie  in  1730  as  the  West,  South, 
Dock,  East,  North,  and  Montgomerie  Wards,  was  the  princi- 
pal seat  of  population  ;  beyond,  on  a  part  of  what  was 
called  the  Out  Ward,  was  an  irregular  parallelogram,  with 
Division  street  as  a  base,  extending  easterly  as  far  as  Norfolk, 
and  northerly  to  Hester,  through  which  ran  the  Old  Bowery 
Lane  to  Kingsbridge — a  total  surface  averaging  about  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  in  width,  and  embraced  within  a  circumfer- 
ence of  about  four  miles.  Broadway  was  then,  as  now,  the 
ridge  or  back-bone  of  the  lower  end  of  the  island.  From  it 
the  land  fell  in  easy  slope  to  the  East  River,  but  to  the  west- 
ward a  steep  embankment,  with  occasional  breaks,  separated 
it  from  the  Hudson,  presenting  an  appearance  from  the  river 
not  unlike  that  of  the  Brooklyn  Highlands  within  our  own 
memory. 

The  water  line  on  the  East  River,  where  the  greater  part 
of  the  shipping  lay  at  this  period,  and  a  great  depth  of  water 
was  found  at  every  pier,  extended  from  Whitehall  to  the 
ship-yards  at  the  foot  of  Catharine  street,  a  distance  of  one 
and  a  half  miles,  passing  in  its  easterly  course  Coentics  slip, 
or  the  Albany  Basins  ;  the  Great  Dock  at  the  foot  of  Broad 
street ;  Cruger's  Wharf,  a  broad  land  projection  on  the  line 
of  present  Front  street,  with  extending  piers,  and  Burnet's 
Key  on  the  line  of  Water  street ;  and  running  with  numer- 
ous other  irregularities,  and  intersecting  piers  and  slips,  of 
which  Coffce-House  slip  and  its  extension,  Murray's  Wharf, 
at  the  foot  of  Wall  street,  and  Burling's,  Beekman's,  and 
Peck  slips  were  the  most  important.  From  the  Fly  Market, 
at  the  foot  of  Maiden  lane,  a  ferry  communicated  with  Long 
Island.  On  the  water-line  of  the  Hudson,  extending  from 
the  Battery  to  the  foot  of  Reade  street,  one  and  a  half  miles, 
there  were  no  wharves  below  Little  Queen  (now  Cedar)  street, 
and  but  few  and  inconsiderable  structures  above,  as  far  as 
Murray  street.  From  the  rear  of  the  houses  on  Broadway 
gardens  were  laid  out  on  the  slope,  which  ended  in  a  sandy 
beach.  Mr.  Duer  relates  in  his  interesting  sketch  of  old  New 
York,  that  his  mother  was  wont,  in  her  youth,  to  amuse  her- 


lO 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITY. 


self  fishing  from  a  summer-house  or  <jardcn-\vall  overhanging 
the  water  in  the  rear  of  one  of  these  Inroad  way  houses. 
Corthmdt  street  was  the  principal  street,  cut  through  the 
green  embankment ;  at  its  foot  were  the  Bear  (now  Wash- 
ington) Market,  and  the  ferry  to  Powles  Hook  (now  Jersey 
City),  then  as  now  the  thoroughfare  to  the  Jerseys.  There 
was  a  third  ferry  from  Scotch  Johnnie's  tavern  at  Whitehall 
to  Staten  Island. 

The  streets  were  irregular  and  of  great  diversity,  the  better 
houses  being  built  of  brick,  after  the  English  manner,  except 
that  the  roofs  were  tiled.  They  were  mostly  painted.  Water 
and  Queen  (now  Pearl)  streets  were  low  and  narrow,  with 
insufficient  sidewalks,  in  some  parts  with  none.  They  were 
the  chief  business  streets.  Broad  street,  which  extended  from 
the  Exchange  at  the  water  side  to  the  City  Hall,  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Wall  street,  was  the  main  avenue,  a  street  of  sufficient 
width  and  well  inhabited.  Wall  street  was  a  wide  and  ele- 
vated street,  and  the  buildings  in  it  large  and  elegant.  The 
upper  part,  toward  Broadway,  was  a  fashionable  residence, 
the  lower  end  exclusively  given  up  to  stores,  auctioneers' 
rooms,  and  offices,  here  and  there  interspersed  with  lodging- 
houses.  Broadway  was  already  beginning  to  be  thought  the 
most  agreeable  and  convenient  part  of  the  city,  being  unin- 
cumbered by  traffic,  and  from  its  high  situation  free  from 
the  nuisances  with  which  the  imperfect  system  of  drainage 
afflicted  the  streets  near  the  East  River.  Beginning  at  the 
Bowling  Green,  there  were  buildings  as  far  as  St.  Paul's 
Church.  The  lower  end  facing  the  green  was  a  favorite  resi- 
dence. The  street  numbers  began  here.  No.  i  was  the 
Kennedy  mansion.  On  the  corner  of  Stone  street  (now 
Thames  street)  was  the  famous  tavern,  afterwards  replaced 
by  the  City  Hotel.  The  great  fire  stopped  with  the  destruc- 
tion of  Trinity  Church,  and  spared  the  buildings  to  the  north- 
ward on  the  front  of  the  street.  There  were  only  two  brick 
houses  at  the  upper  end  of  Broadway  opposite  St.  Paul's, 
both  of  which  have  now  disappeared.  They  later  made  part 
of  the  Arden  estate,  and  one  of  them  was  for  a  long  period 
occupied  by  the  Chemical  Bank,  and,  with  its  neighbor,  is 


THE  PARKS  OF  THE  CITY. 


II 


now  the  site  of  the  Park  Bank  building.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  Vesey  street  there  stood  on  the  corner  a  building  of 
two  stories.  A  si^n-board  affixed  upon  it  bore  the  inscrip- 
tion "  Road  to  Albany,"  while  on  the  opposite  corner,  on 
the  house  which  has  been  replaced  first  by  the  American 
Museum,  and  since  by  The  New  York  Herald  building,  a 
similar  board  pointed  the  traveller  the  "  Road  to  Boston," 
through  Chatham  street,  which  ran  as  far  as  the  Fresh  Water, 
a  street  so  called  after  the  great  Earl,  who  for  so  long  stood 
first  in  the  affection  of  the  Colonies  for  his  manly  support  of 
American  rights  and  liberties.  Thence  the  Boston  Road  ran 
through  the  Old  Bowery  lane  to  a  point  (present  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Twenty-third  street)  where  it  forked,  and  took 
the  direction  to  King's  ]5ridge,  which  it  crossed. 

Beyond  lay  the  open  space  known  as  the  Commons  or 
Fields,  and  later  as  the  City  Park — a  spot  celebrated  as  the 
scene  of  many  a  public  gathering  during  the  colonial  days. 
Here  was  held  the  great  popular  meeting  on  the  evening  of 
Friday,  the  1st  of  November,  1765,  which  protested  against 
the  Stamp  Act,  burned  the  lieutenant-governor  in  effigy,  and 
here  also  rallied  the  "  prodigious  concourse  of  people,"  as  the 
journals  of  the  day  termed  the  armed  multitude  which,  on  the 
5th  of  November,  marched  upon  the  fort  and  compelled  the 
royal  authorities  to  surrender  the  obnoxious  instruments  into 
the  liands  of  the  popular  representative,  the  mayor  of  the  city. 
On  the  western  border  of  the  Fields,  opposite  to  what  is  now 
known  as  No.  252  Broadway,  between  Warren  and  Murray 
streets,  and  nearly  opposite  the  latter,  was  planted  the  famous 
liberty  pole  about  which  many  struggles  took  place  be- 
tween the  British  soldiery  and  the  people.    The  fourth  pole 
was  planted  here  on  the  19th  of  March,  1767,  and  a  flag  flung 
to  the  winds  with  the  motto  of     King,  Pitt,  and  Liberty," 
which  was  maintained  with  many  vicissitudes  until  the  British 
occupation.    This  was  the  rally-point  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 
an  organization  originated  in  the  Stamp  Act  period,  and 
revived,  in   November,  1773,  to   prevent   the   landing  of 
the  tea  from  the  ships  of  the  East  India  Company,  which 
Avere  announced  as  on  the  way ;  this  was  also  the  scene 


!  lli:  PARKS  OF  THE  CITY. 


of  the  <^rcat  popular  rising  known  as  the  "  Great  Meet- 
ing in  the  Fields,"  on  the  5th  of  July,  1774,  at  which  the 
X'outhful  llaniilton,  then  a  student  at  King's  College,  is  said 
to  ha\'e  made  his  first  appearance  in  public  life.  When 
Washington  occupied  the  city,  a  part  of  the  troops  were 
quartered  on  the  Commons,  and  here  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  proclaimed  and  read  to  the  army  on  the  9th  of 
Jul}',  1776.  Later,  on  the  entry  of  the  British,  the  liberty 
pole  was  cut  down,  and  the  Commons  became  a  scene  of  im- 
prisonment and  torture  as  the  site  of  the  new  jail,  the  building 
now  known  as  the  Hall  of  Records. 

Above  the  line  of  the  Commons,  on  the  west  side  of  Broad- 
way and  north  of  Reade  street,  built  upon  the  grounds  of  the 
old  Ranclagh  Garden,  was  the  New  York  Hospital,  extending 
from  what  is  now  known  as  Duane  to  Worth  street,  and 
opposite  to  Pearl  street,  where  was  then  a  broad  green. 
Upon  this  beautiful  site  a  building  was  begun  by  private 
subscription,  the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  by  Governor 
Tryon  in  1773.  It  was  hardly  completed  when  in  February, 
1775,  it  was  nearly  destroyed  by  fire.  During  the  war  it 
was  occupied  in  an  unfinished  condition  as  a  military  hospital 
by  each  army.  Later  completed,  the  New  York  Hospital 
was  long  a  model  of  admirable  curative  art,  but  like  other 
landmarks  of  the  city,  gave  way  in  1869  to  the  march  of 
population,  and  has  lost  something  of  its  old  prestige.  To 
the  northward  of  the  hospital  grounds  stood  the  Ranelagh 
House  and  Gardens,  a  summer  resort.  Beyond  were  farms 
and  country  residences,  and  to  the  westward  the  Church  farm, 
the  property  of  the  already  wealthy  corporation  of  Trinity 
Church. 

The  only  other  open  space  in  the  city  proper  which  served 
as  a  park  was  the  ancient  Bowling  Green,  sometimes  called 
the  Royal  Bowling  Green.  This  little  green,  now  hardly 
noticeable  save  as  one  of  the  few  open  spots  which  has  been 
left  for  public  uses  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  was  in 
the  d:iys  of  Dutch  rule  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  features 
of  the  town.  It  was  then  part  of  the  spacious  green  in  front 
of  the  fort,  where  a  market  was  daily  and  fairs  occasionally 


STATUES  OF  GEORGE  III.  AND  WILLIAM  PITT.         1 3 

held  ;  here  the  Train  bands  made  their  usual  parade.  In 
March,  1753,  the  corporation  leased  the  ground  to  some  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Broadway,  **to  be  enclosed  as  a  Bowling 
Green,  with  walks  therein  for  the  beauty  and  ornament  of  the 
street,"  and  it  has  since  been  known  by  this  name. 

In  the  centre  of  this  green,  on  a  Avhite  marble  pedestal 
fifteen  feet  high,  stood  the  equestrian  statue  of  George 
III.,  erected  by  the  Assembly,  Thursday,  the  i6th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1770,  the  anniversary  of  the  birthday  of  Prince 
Frederick,  second  child  of  George  III.  This  statue  is 
described  as  made  of  metal,  richly  gilt,  and  the  workman- 
ship of  the  celebrated  statuary,  Mr.  Wilton,  of  London. 
The  same  artist  made  a  statue  of  George  III.  for  the  Royal 
Exchange  of  London.  The  erection  in  the  Bowling  Green 
was  the  occasion  of  a  grand  public  display,  the  members 
of  the  Colonial  and  City  Governments,  the  Corporations  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Marine  Society,  and  the 
officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  waiting  upon  the  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor at  the  fort  near  by,  where  toasts  were  drunk  to 
the  accompaniment  of  military  music  and  artillery.  To  pro- 
tect it  the  corporation  in  1 771  built  an  iron  railing  around  the 
green  at  a  cost  of  ;^8oo.  The  statue  stood  upon  the  green 
in  all  its  gilded  glory,  the  object  of  loyal  admiration  and 
patriot  contumely  until  the  evening  of  the  9th  of  July,  1776, 
when,  after  the  hearing  of  the  Proclamation  of  Independence, 
it  was  overthrown  by  the  soldiery,  an  act  of  vandalism  for 
which  they  received  the  rebuke  of  Gen.  Washington  in 
general  orders  the  next  morning.  This  was  another  instance 
of  that  disposition  for  destruction  which  unfortunately  is  not 
confined  to  the  excited  populace,  but  is  shared  by  delibera- 
tive bodies.  But  too  often  the  first  act  of  a  new  order  of 
government  is  the  overthrow  and  ruin  of  even  the  artistic 
emblems  of  the  old.  The  mutilated  statue,  the  material  of 
which  was  lead,  is  said  to  have  been  taken  to  Litchfield, 
Conn.,  and  run  into  bullets  for  the  use  of  the  American  army. 
Fragments  of  it  still  exist,  one  in  the  possession  of  this  Society, 
and  a  bullet-mould  to  which  a  similar  romantic  story  is  attach- 
ed.   The  slab  on  which  the  statue  rested  was  taken  to  Powles 


14         STATUES  OF  CiKORCiE  111.   AM)  WILLIAM  VVIT. 

Hook  in  17S3,  and  was  used  as  a  memorial  stone  for  the 
grave  of  Major  Jolin  Smith,  of  the  42d  Highhmd  regiment. 
Later  it  served  as  a  door-step  for  the  residence  of  Mr.  Cor- 
nelius Van  Vorst  in  Jersey  City,  and  has  now  a  resting-place 
in  the  vestibule  of  this  Society.  The  marks  of  the  hoofs  are 
still  \  isible.  The  pedestal  remained  for  some  years  in  its 
original  position,  but  was  removed  when  the  green  was  re- 
modelled. It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  discrimi- 
nation in  these  acts  of  barbarism.  No  complaint  would  be 
made  by  the  present  generation  if  some  modern  iconoclasts 
should  destroy  the  hideous  objects  which  now  disgrace  our 
public  places,  and  are  even  invading  the  National  capital, 
/jro/i  pudor,  in  the  name  of  art. 

At  the  intersection  of  Wall  and  Smith  (now  William  street) 
stood  the  pedestrian  statue  erected  to  William  Pitt  "  for  the 
services  he  rendered  America  in  promoting  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act  " — a  peaceful  victory  as  dear  to  the  Colonies  as 
ever  conquest  celebrated  by  triumphal  pageant  or  memorial 
arches  in  the  streets  of  ancient  Rome.  The  statue  is  de- 
scribed in  the  journals  of  the  day  as  of  fine  white  marble, 
the  habit  Roman,  the  right  hand  holds  a  scroll  partly  open, 
whereupon  we  read,  Articuli  Magna-Charta  Libertatum  ;  the 
left  hand  is  extended,  the  figure  being  in  the  attitude  of  one 
delivering  an  oration."  On  the  south  side  of  the  pedestal 
there  was  a  Latin  inscription,  cut  on  a  tablet  of  white  marble. 
This  statue  (like  that  of  George  IIL,  the  workmanship  of 
Wilton)  was  erected  on  the  7th  September,  1770,  by  the 
Assembly  of  the  Colony,  amid  the  acclamations  of  a  great 
number  of  the  inhabitants,  and  in  compliance  with  a  request 
pf  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  held  23d  June,  1766,"  when 
the  news  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  reached  the  city. 
This  statue  stood  in  its  original  position  until  I787>  when  it 
was  removed  by  city  ordinance  on  the  petition  of  a  major- 
ity of  the  Proprietors  of  the  Lots  of  Ground  in  Wall  street, 
as  an  obstruction  to  the  city."  It  was  then  a  deformity,  hav- 
ing been  beheaded  and  otherwise  disfigured  in  177^,  during 
the  British  occupation.  It  lay  for  many  years  in  the  corpo- 
ration yard,  then  in  that  of  the  arsenal,  after  which  it  stood 


J 


THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS.  15 

for  a  long  period  in  front  of  Riley's  Museum,  or  Fifth  Ward 
Hotel,  corner  of  West  Broadway  and  Franklin  street.  It 
was  later  purchased  by  Mr.  Samuel  F.  Mackie,  one  of  our 
members,  and  by  him  presented  to  this  Society,  in  the  refec- 
tory of  which  it  may  now  be  seen.  It  is  hoped  that  some 
liberal  member  will  restore  it  to  its  original  beauty,  as  its 
counterpart,  which  may  serve  as  a  model,  is  still  in  existence 
in  Charleston. 

The  ground  in  front  of  the  Trinity  Cemetery  was  at  this 
time,  and  for  many  years  after  the  Revolution,  the  fashion- 
able promenade,  and  was  known  as  the  **  Church  Walk," 
and  the  Mall.  During  the  war  seats  were  arranged  for  the 
public,  and  music  was  given  every  evening  by  military  bands, 
while  the  army  officers  and  such  city  belles  as  loved  the 
military "  paraded  up  and  down  in  pleasant  discourse.  In 
the  present  day,  when  the  rights  of  the  sexes  are  matters  of 
discussion  by  the  indignant  of  both  in  the  public  prints,  it  is 
amusing  to  notice  a  protest  from  a  British  officer  in  The 
Royal  Gazette,  1780,  against  the  "  want  of  politeness  and 
decorum  in  the  masculine  gender  "  in  monopolizing  the  seats 
in  the  Mall.  He  remarks,  with  sense  and  sensibility,  in  the 
elegant  language  of  the  day,  "  that  this  must  be  very  dis- 
agreeable to  the  fair  sex  in  general,  whose  tender,  delicate 
limbs  may  be  tired  with  the  fatigue  of  walking  and  being 
denied  a  seat  to  rest  them."  The  Central  Park  to-day 
repeats  in  its  broad  and  beautiful  Mall  and  adjacent  music- 
stand  these  features  of  the  life  of  the  city  a  century  ago. 

The  public  buildings  were  not  striking  either  for  size  or 
beauty.  The  City  Hall,  which  stood  at  the  head  of  Broad 
street,  where  the  elegant  white  marble  structure  occupied  by 
the  United  States  Treasury  Department  now  stands,  Avas  a 
three-story  brick  building  with  wings.  The  ground  floor 
was  open  as  a  thoroughfare.  The  site  of  the  building  was 
laid  in  the  year  1700,  on  a  bastion  and  line  of  stone  fortifica- 
tions which  extended  across  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
city  from  the  East  to  the  Hudson  River,  whence  the  name  of 
Wall  street  is  derived.  First  occupied  by  the  Common 
Council  in  1703,  the  edifice  was  for  a  long  time  the  most 


10 


TIIIC  PUliLIC  BUILDINGS. 


mac^nificcnt  in  tlic  city,  and  was  frequently  improved  and 
embellished  until  the  Revolutionary  War.  While  in  posses- 
sion of  the  l^ritish  it  was  occupied  by  the  main  ^niard,  and, 
escaping  the  ravages  of  the  enemy,  remained  entire,  although 
much  injured,  until  the  evacuation  in  17S3.  The  Legislature 
of  the  State  and  the  courts  met  here  after  the  war.  The  city 
bell  was  here.  A  curious  notice  in  The  New  York  Packet 
of  1784  warned  the  inhabitants  "  not  to  be  alarmed  by  the 
ringing  of  the  court  bell;"  and  informed  them  that  "  the 
said  bell  will  be  rung  daily,  at  a  quarter  before  ten  o'clock  in 
the  forenoon,  for  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature,"  and  other 
papers  were  requested  to  copy.  It  was  renovated  in  1784, 
and  extensive  additions  made  in  the  rear,  for  the  use  of  the 
Congress,  which  had  adjourned  to  New  York  from  Philadel- 
phia ;  in  the  spring  of  1789  the  first  Congress  under  the  new 
Constitution  met  in  the  new  edifice,  which  took  the  name  of 
F'ederal  Hall  ;  and  here  it  was  that  on  the  3d  of  April,  1789, 
George  Washington  was  inaugurated  the  first  President. 
The  building  was  demolished  in  1812. 

The  Exchange,  at  one  time  called  the  Ro)'al  Exchange, 
at  the  foot  of  Broad  street,  below  the  intersection  of  Dock 
(now  Pearl  street),  was  a  building  raised  upon  arches  in  the 
middle  of  the  street.  Built  upon  or  near  the  site  of  a  struc- 
ture which  had  served  as  a  market-house  as  well  as  meeting- 
place  of  merchants,  from  the  beginning  of  the  century,  it  was 
sometimes  called  the  New  Exchange.  A  subscription  was 
made  by  the  merchants,  in  1752,  for  its  erection,  but  it  was 
assumed  and  finally  completed  by  the  city  corporation.  At 
times  its  lower  arch-covered  surface  seems  to  have  been  inclos- 
ed. Above  the  arches  was  a  large  hall  sixty  feet  by  thirty, 
with  walls  fourteen  feet  high,  arching  to  a  height  of  twenty 
feet,  surmounted  by  a  cupola.  It  was  provided  with  a  stove, 
then  a  modern  invention,  and  a  clock.  In  1754,  the  lower 
story  was  used  as  a  coffee  house,  and  the  room  above  as  a  ball- 
room. The  Chamber  of  Commerce  hired  and  repaired  it  in 
1769,  and  occupied  it  until  their  sessions  were  interrupted  by 
the  breaking  out  of  hostilities  in  1775.  During  the  war  it  was 
used  by  the  British  as  a  market.    When  the  City  Hall  was 


CHURCHES. 


17 


undergoing  repairs  after  the  peace,  the  State  Legislature  and 
courts  of  justice  held  their  sessions  here.  In  1795  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Tammany  Society  for  use  as  a  museum, 
and  was  so  used  under  the  direction  of  the  eccentric  Gardner 
Baker.  In  1799,  in  consequence  of  numerous  complaints,  the 
city  authorities  ordered  it  to  be  taken  down  and  removed. 
At  the  time  of  its  erection,  the  streets  in  its  neighborhood 
had  been  greatly  improved,  and  the  commerce  of  the  city  for 
a  few  years  gathered  about  it,  but  it  gradually  lost  its  pres- 
tige from  the  nuisances  which  were  allowed  to  accumulate 
about  the  water  edge  near  by.  Then,  as  now,  the  system  of 
sewerage  was  a  crying  disgrace  to  the  city,  and  the  river 
banks  had  become  intolerable  nuisances.  Comparing  Eng- 
lish and  American  cities  with  those  of  Continental  Europe, 
the  thought  forces  itself  upon  the  mind  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  neat  as  it  may  be  in  personal  habits,  has  no  special 
"  vocation  "  for  public  cleanliness. 

At  the  south-west  point  of  the  island  stood  the  Fort  in  a 
square  with  four  bastions,  facing  the  Bowling  Green  ;  within 
it  a  building  which  was  the  residence  of  the  colonial  gover- 
nors until  destroyed  by  fire  in  December,  1773.  The  Fort 
itself  was  removed  in  1790,  to  make  way  for  the  Government 
House  erected  for  the  use  of  the  State  Government.  Below 
the  Fort,  on  the  water  line,  were  fortifications  of  considerable 
extent.  A  stone  battery  was  laid  here  by  Governor  Cosby, 
in  1735,  and  called  after  his  son-in-law,  the  George  Augus- 
tus Royal  Battery."  Hence  the  name  of  the  Battery,  which  was 
before  and  for  many  years  after  the  war,  in  the  summer  season, 
a  delightful  promenade,  cooled  by  the  sea  breeze,  and  pre- 
senting a  bay  view  unparalleled  in  beauty  and  extent.  It 
is  not  improbable  that  this  charming  spot  may  again  become  a 
favorite  residence.  The  other  public  buildings  were  the  new 
jail  called  the  "  Provost  "  during  the  war,  and  "  The  Bride- 
well," both  in  the  fields  now  the  City  Park. 

Of  the  three  P>piscopal  churches  founded  under  one  royal 
charter  in  1697,  Old  Trinity,  the  most  stately  edifice  in 
America,  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  terrible  fire  which  swept 
the  city  after  the  British  entry  in  1776.    St.  George's  Chapel, 


1 8  CHURCHES. 

finished  ill  1750,  stood  in  Hccknian  street.  It  was  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1814,  again  rebuilt,  and  finally  taken  down  in  1868. 
St.  Paul's  Chapel,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Vesey 
street,  completed  in  1766,  is  the  finest  relic  of  colonial  archi- 
tecture, and  for  beauty  of  design  is  not  excelled  by  an}'  later 
structures.  Its  elegant  and  graceful  spire  was  added  in 
1794. 

There  were  three  houses  of  worship  belonging  to  the  Pres- 
byterians. The  First  Presbyterian,  or  Wall  Street  Church,  a 
modest  building  of  rough  stone,  stood  at  the  upper  end  of 
Wall  street,  near  Broadway.  It  was  originally  erected  in 
1 7 19,  enlarged  in  1768,  rebuilt  in  1809,  and  finally  removed 
in  1844,  and  reconstructed  in  Jersey  City.  The  second  or 
Brick  Meeting-house,  a  branch  of  the  Wall  Street  Church, 
was  built,  in  1768,  on  the  Vineyard  lot  opposite  the  Common, 
rebuilt  in  1797,  and  was  demolished  in  consequence  of  the 
widening  of  Beekman  street.  The  present  New  York  Times 
building  occupies  its  site.  The  last  service  was  held  here  in 
May,  1856.  This  was  for  a  long  time,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  small  wooden  houses,  the  only  building  on  Chatham  row. 
The  third  or  Second  Presbyterian  church  was  built  in  1768, 
in  Little  Queen  (now  Cedar  street),  between  Nassau  and 
Broadway.  This  congregation  originated  about  the  year 
1756,  in  a  separation  of  the  Scottish  members  from  the 
Wall  Street  Church,  in  consequence  of  changes  in  the  form  of 
worship  and  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  psalmody.  All 
these  three  churches  w^ere  occupied  by  the  British  troops  as 
hospitals  and  barracks,  and  w^ere  left  behind  them  in  ruins 
and  dilapidation. 

There  were  three  Dutch  Reformed  churches.  The  Old 
South,  or  Garden  Street  Church,  which  stood  in  the  present 
Exchange  place,  w^as  built  in  1693,  rebuilt  in  1766,  again  in 
1807,  and  w^as  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  in  1835.  The 
New  or  Middle  Church,  built  in  1729.  and  remodelled  in  1764, 
still  remains.  From  its  cupola  one  of  the  best  views  of  the 
city  and  surrounding  country  w^as  to  be  seen.  It  was  here 
that  Dr.  Franklin  made  some  of  his  experiments  in  electri- 
city.   Indeed  the  only  steeples  high  enough  to  be  seen  to 


CHURCHES. 


19 


advantage,  after  the  destruction  of  Trinity,  were  those  of  this 
church  and  St.  George's  Chapel.  During  the  occupation  it 
was  used  by  the  British  as  a  riding  school  for  dragoons. 
Public  worship  ceased  in  it  in  1844,  when  it  was  sold  to  the 
United  States  Government,  the  merchants  of  New  York  con- 
tributing to  its  purchase  by  subscription,  for  the  use  of  the 
Post-Office  Department.  It  has  been  this  fall  abandoned, 
and  is  now  being  demolished.  The  North  Dutch  Church  was 
erected  in  1769,  on  the  corner  of  Fulton  and  William  streets, 
remodelled  in  1842,  and  has  been  this  year  taken  down.  It 
had  become  famous,  in  latter  years,  as  the  seat  of  the  Ful- 
ton street  prayer-meetings. 

The  Methodists  erected  a  church  in  John  street  in  1768, 
which  is  still  standing  on  the  south  side  of  the  street,  near 
Nassau.  The  Moravians  began  their  worship  in  a  small  frame 
building  which  they  put  up  in  Fulton  street,  between  William 
and  Dutch  streets,  in  175 1.  The  old  house  was  taken  down 
and  rebuilt  in  1829,  and  finally  removed  in  1843.  The  Bap- 
tists had  their  place  of  worship  in  Gold  street,  between  Fulton 
and  John  streets,  in  a  small  building  erected  by  them  in  1760. 
It  was  rebuilt  in  1802,  and  finally  taken  down  in  1840.  The 
Friends,  who  had  occupied  a  modest  structure  in  Little  Green 
street  (now  Liberty  place),  a  small  street  running  from  Maiden 
lane  to  Crown  (now  Liberty  street),  from  the  early  part  of  the 
century,  in  1775  built  a  second  house  of  brick  in  Pearl  street, 
between  Franklin  square  and  Oak  street,  which  was  taken 
down  in  1824.  In  1794  the  old  building  was  destroyed  and  a 
new  one  erected,  fronting  on  Liberty  street.  This  continued 
to  be  used  as  a  meeting-house  until  1826,  when  it  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Grant  Thorburn,  who  occupied  it  as  a  seed 
store  for  many  years.  The  French  congregation,  L'Eglise  du 
Saint  Esprit  (Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost),  which  had  existed 
from  an  early  day,  in  1704  erected  a  building,  which  was  long 
the  oldest  of  the  New  York  churches,  in  Pine  street,  fronting 
the  rear  of  the  present  United  States  Sub-Treasury,  with  a 
burial  ground  running  back  as  far  as  Cedar  street.  Here  the 
descendants  of  the  French  Huguenots  continued  their  worship, 
according  to  the  tenets  of  the  old  faith,  for  130  years.  The 
2 


20 


EDUCATION  AND  ART. 


building  was  "low,  grave  and  sombre,  and  its  tower  heavy 
and  monastic."  The  Jewish  house  of  worship  was  built  in 
Mill  street,  about  1706.  This  was  taken  down,  and  the  first 
Synagogue  erected  on  the  same  site  in  1729.  This  building, 
in  turn,  was  rebuilt  in  1818,  and  occupied  till  1833,  when  the 
property  was  sold,  and  the  congregation  removed.  The  first 
Roman  Catholic  public  worship  was  held  at  the  Vaux  Hall,  at 
the  foot  of  Warren  street;  this  was  the  origin  of  St.  Peter's 
Church  in  Barclay  street,  built  in  1786.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  by  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui, 
and  the  building  fund  contributed  to  by  both  the  Spanish  and 
French  official  representatives.     It  was  later  rebuilt. 

Education  had  not  as  yet  been  considered  a  matter  for  legis- 
lative interference.  It  was  held,  indeed,  to  be  a  matter  with 
which  the  Government  had  no  right  to  interfere,,  and  was 
chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  Early  in  the  history  of 
the  Dutch  colony  teaching  in  Latin  had  been  fostered  by  the 
Government.  In  17 10  the  first  free  school  was  opened  by 
Trinity  Church,  under  the  teaching  of  William  Huddlestone. 
In  1754  King's  College  was  established,  and  a  year  later  the 
Dutch,  tenacious  of  their  old  language,  imported  a  school- 
master for  instruction  in  the  Dutch  language.  During  the 
seven  years  of  war  these  schools  and  the  college  were  closed. 
The  first  to  reopen  was  the  Dutch,  many  months  before  the 
evacuation  by  the  British.  King's  College  (now  Columbia) 
occupied  the  beautiful  square,  well  remembered,  bounded  by 
Church,  Chapel  (now  West  Broadway),  Murray  and  Mortlike 
(now  Barclay  street).  This  was  an  elegant  stone  structure 
three  stories  high,  with  a  chapel,  hall,  library,  museum,  ana- 
tomical theatre,  and  school  for  experimental  philosophy.  The 
edifice  was  surrounded  by  a  high  fence,  which  also  inclosed  a 
large  court  and  garden.  The  students  resided  in  the  build- 
ing. The  fire  of  1776  burned  all  the  houses  west  of  Broad- 
way up  to  this  limit. 

There  were  no  public  collections  of  art  in  the  city  before 
1800;  a  few  occasional  portraits,  but  of  a  low  order  of  merit. 
An  example  may  be  seen  in  the  portrait  of  Lieut. -Gov.  Cad- 
wallader  Colden,  painted  for  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  by 


EDUCATION  AND  ART.  21 
Matthew  Pratt,  a  picture  46x78,  for  which  the  artist  received 

In  the  year  1791,  I\Ir.  Archibald  Robertson,  an  artist,  or- 
ganized Tlie  Cokimbian  Academy  of  Painting,"  but  this  was 
a  private  institution.  In  1801,  the  American  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts  was  organized  under  the  advice  of  Robert  R.  Liv- 
ingston, then  Minister  to  France,  with  the  active  co-operation 
of  Aaron  Burr.  It  opened  its  rooms  with  numerous  donations, 
prominent  among  which  were  several  gifts  from  the  Emperor 
Napoleon,  and  in  1808  was  incorporated,  with  Edward  Liv- 
ingston as  President.  It  ceased  to  exist  in  1841,  and  its  valu- 
able collection  is  scattered. 

The  theatre  was  on  the  north  side  of  John  street,  about  half- 
way between  Broadway  and  Nassau  street.  The  building 
stood,  as  described  by  Mr.  Duer,  about  sixty  feet  back  from 
the  street,  and  was  entered  by  a  covered  way.  It  was  opened 
on  the  7th  of  December,  1767,  by  **  The  American  Company," 
with  Farquhar's  comedy  of  the  "  Stratagem,"  and  Garrick's 
farce  or  dramatic  satire,  "  Lethe."  A  curious  incident  is  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  theatre  at  this  period.  Some 
Cherokee  warriors  arrived  in  the  city  from  South  Carolina 
with  Capt.  Schermerhorne,  among  whom  were  Attakullakulla, 
or  the  Little  Carpenter;  Ocounostola,  or  the  Great  Warrior; 
and  the  Raven  King  of  Tougooloo,  who  expressed  a  desire  to 
see  the  performance  of  the  14th,  which  was  the  play  of  Richard 
III.,  not  the  most  appropriate  entertainment,  certainly,  for 
the  instruction  of  savage  chiefs.  Attakullakulla  was  a  noted 
Cherokee  chief.  He  had  visited  England  and  signed  the 
treaty  of  peace  at  Westminster,  in  1730.  The  general  de- 
pression which  resulted  from  the  sullen  but  as  yet  peaceful 
struggle  of  the  colonies  with  the  home  Government,  brought 
theatrical  exhibitions  to  a  close,  and  no  entertainments  were 
given  after  Aug.  2,  1773.  On  the  24th  of  December,  1774, 
the  Provincial  Congress  passed  a  resolution  recommending  the 
suspension  of  all  public  amusements,  and  no  further  perform- 
ances were  given.  When  the  British  held  the  city,  amateurs  re- 
opened the  John  Street  Theatre  under  the  name  of  Theatre 
Royal,"  and  plays  were  given  from  January,  1777,  to  June, 


22  TAVERNS,  MKAD-IIOUSES,  ETC. 

1 78 1,  the  receipts  being  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  the  city. 
It  was  here  tliat  the  accomphshed  and  unfortunate  Major  An- 
dre distinguished  himself  both  as  an  actor  and  scene  painter. 
After  the  peace,  in  spite  of  strong  pubHc  sentiment,  which  took 
shape  in  articles  in  the  newspapers  and  speeches  in  the  Legis- 
lature, the  theatre  was  reopened  on  the  24th  of  August,  1785, 
with  a  prologue  and  pantomime,  which  continued  until  Oct. 
14  of  the  same  year.  The  legitimate  drama  was  not  resumed 
till  the  2ist  of  November,  1785.  The  last  performance  in  the 
John  Street  Theatre  was  Wives  As  They  Were  and  Maids 
As  They  Are,"  on  the  12th  of  January,  1798.  The  New,  or 
Park  Theatre,  which  stood  in  Park  row,  near  Ann  street,  was 
opened  on  the  29th  of  January  of  the  same  year. 

The  principal  tavern  was  the  City  Arms,  a  large  house 
on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  at  the  corner  of  Stone,  now 
Thames  street.  This  famous  house  was  a  part  of  the 
Delancey  estate,  and  until  1754  was  the  residence  of  James 
De  Lancey,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  colony.  On  the 
15th  April  of  that  year  it  was  opened  as  a  tavern  by  Ed- 
ward Willet,  a  noted  host,  under  the  name  of  the  Province 
Arms.  In  the  newspapers  of  the  day  it  is  sometimes  called 
the  Neu^  York  Arms,  the  York  Arms,  the  City  Arms,  or,  as 
was  often  the  case,  by  the  name  of  the  proprietor.  Willet's 
opening  notice  describes  the  house  as  not  only  the  best 
accommodated  with  stables  and  all  things  necessary  to  the 
entertainment  of  travellers,  but  the  best  situated  of  any  house 
in  that  business  in  this  city,  being  nearest  the  centre  ;  and  in 
a  direct  line  with  the  eastern  road,  and  very  handy  for  both 
*  the  North  River,  Staten  Island,  and  Long  Island  Ferries." 
The  New  York  tavern-keepers  were  in  the  colonial  days  an 
itinerant  class,  and  moved  from  house  to  house  with  the  reg- 
ularity of  lawyers  on  a  circuit.  Crawley,  Burns,  Bolton,  and 
Hull  all  kept  it  in  turn.  It  was  here,  while  in  the  keeping  of 
Burns,  that  the  famous  non-importation  agreement  was  signed 
the  31st  October,  1765,  by  the  merchants  of  the  city.  Burns 
succeeded  Crawley  in  1763.  John  Adams,  delegate  to  the 
first  Continental  Congress,  stopped  here  on  his  way  to  Phila- 
delphia in  1774-    During  the  earlier  part  of  the  war  it  was  kept 


TAVERNS,  MEAD-HOUSES,  ETC. 


23 


by  Hicks,  who  seems  to  have  been  displaced  in  an  arbitrary 
manner  in  1781,  to  make  way  for  Roubalet.  It  was  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  miUtary,  on  account  of  its  proximity  to  the 
fashionable  promenade.  On  its  piazzas  and  balconies  were 
"  coigns  of  vantage  "  for  the  review  of  the  loyalist  belles 
"  walking  down  Broadway."  Later  it  passed  into  the  hands 
of  John  Cape,  and  was  called  the  "  State  Arms  of  New 
York"  (No.  18  Broadway),  in  his  advertisements  of  May  31, 
1784.  The  house  was  provided  with  a  large  ball-room,  where 
concerts  were  given  and  dancing  assemblies  held.  These 
assemblies  were  subscription  balls  under  the  direction  of 
managers.  They  were  renewed  immediately  after  the  war. 
The  first  was  held  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  i8th  of 
December,  1783,  at  6  o'clock.  Rivington,  the  editor  of  the 
newspaper  which  advertised  this  ball,  announced  in  the  same 
paper  that  he  had  "  for  sale  a  supply  of  white  dancing  gloves 
for  gentlemen,  silk  stockings,  dress-swords,  and  elegant  Lon- 
don cocked  hats."  As  he  was  a  loyalist,  this  was  probably 
the  stock  of  the  outgoing  officers  of  the  British  army.  Cape 
does  not  appear  to  have  met  with  success  in  his  venture.  In 
1786  Joseph  Corre,  a  Frenchman  by  bipth,  took  the  house, 
and  in  1788  he,  in  turn,  made  way  for  the  veteran  Edward 
Barden,  who  had  returned  to  the  city  from  Jamaica.  Long 
Island,  where  he  kept  the  inn  opposite  the  Episcopal  Church. 
Broadway  was  already  the  favorite  street,  and  the  old  tavern 
became  the  chosen  spot  for  the  meetings  of  societies  and 
great  public  entertainments,  and  acquired  a  popularity  which 
it  uninterruptedly  maintained  for  a  long  period.  In  1793  the 
old  building,  which  was  still  owned  by  the  De  Lancey 
family,  was  taken  down,  and  the  Tontine  City  Tavern  or 
City  Hotel,  erected  by  a  company  who  organized  for  its 
purchase  on  the  Tontine  plan.  The  City  Hotel  has  been  taken 
down  within  our  recollection. 

There  was  another  tavern  largely  patronized  by  the  offi- 
cers of  the  British  army  and  navy,  on  Brownejohn's  Wharf, 
at  the  Fly  Market,  as  it  was  called.  This  was  kept  by  James 
Strachan  until  1781,  when  he  changed  his  quarters.  Not  far 
distant,  in  Water  street,  Ephraim  Smith  kept  a  house  known 


24 


TAVERNS,  MKAD-IK)LSES,  ETC. 


b\-  his  name — Smith's  Tavern,  lie  had  previously  kept  a 
tavern  under  the  same  sign  in  Phihidelphia.  The  Bull's 
Head  was  in  the  Bowery  lane.  But  of  all,  the  most  famous 
for  its  historic  associations  was  the  house  on  the  south-east 
corner  of  Broad  and  Dock  (now  Pearl  street),  which  is  still 
standin<^.  It  was  built  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century, 
by  the  De  Lancey  family,  on  land  conveyed  by  Col.  Stephanus 
Van  Cortlandt  to  Kstienne  de  Lancey,  his  son-in-law,  in 
1700.  It  was  for  some  time  occupied  as  a  residence  by  Col. 
Joseph  Robinson  ;  then  by  Delancey,  Robinson  &  Co.  as  a 
store,  and  later  passed  by  sale  into  the  hands  of  Sam 
Fraunces,  the  most  noted  publican  of  the  day  (later  the 
steward  of  General  Washington's  household),  who  here 
opened  a  tavern  in  1762,  under  the  sign  of  Queen  Charlotte. 
This  was  in  honor  of  the  charming  and  popular  queen  of 
George  III.,  who  had  already,  although  only  in  her  eighteenth 
year,  earned  the  name  of  The  Good  Queen  Charlotte."  A 
record  of  the  interesting  incidents  connected  with  this  old 
house  would  fill  a  volume.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce 
organized  here  in  1768  ;  the  clubs  and  societies  often  met  at 
its  hospitable  board.  This  was  the  building  which  was  struck 
by  the  shot  upon  the  city  by  the  Asia  "  man-of-war,  but  it 
is  most  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  patriot  as  the  spot  where,  at 
a  dinner  given  to  him  on  the  4th  of  December,  1783,  Gen. 
Washington  bade  a  touching  and  affectionate  farewell  to  his 
officers.  Before  the  war  it  was  known  as  the  Queen's  Head  ; 
later,  as  Fraunces's  Tavern.  It  is  now  kept  as  a  lodging-house 
by  W.  Stubner,  under  the  sign  of  Washington's  Headquar- 
ters, in  memory  of  the  incident  related. 

On  the  new  road,  a  continuation  of  Broadway,  there  were 
several  mead-houses  and  tea-gardens,  and  opposite  the  Park, 
where  Peale's  Museum  stood  later,  was  the  celebrated  garden 
and  public  house  of  de  la  Montague,  where  the  Liberty 
Boys  had  their  rendezvous.  The  Liberty  Pole  was  near 
by.  The  Vauxhall  was  a  large  garden  at  the  foot  of  War- 
ren street,  extending  as  far  as  Chambers  street,  overlooking 
the  Hudson,  and  commanding  a  beautiful  view.  This  had 
been  the  residence  of  Major  James  of  Stamp  Act  memory, 


COFFEE-HOUSES. 


25 


and  had  later  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  enterprising 
Fraunces. 

Besides  these,  there  were  bilHard  tables  at  de  la  Mon- 
tagne's,  in  the  fields,  and  near  by  Walker's  Fives  Alley,  about 
the  corner  of  Murray  street,  where  Sir  Henry  Clinton  was 
wont  to  play  with  his  officers.  There  was  also  a  Fives  alley 
in  John  street,  near  the  theatre.  In  summer  the  ladies  visited 
the  tea-gardens,  but  then,  as  now,  the  men  at  times  preferred 
to  enjoy  themselves  without  the  restraining  influence  of  the 
fair  sex. 

Before  the  war,  coffee-houses,  kept  on  the  English  plan,  were 
places  of  great  resort.  A  notice  of  a  Ccffee-House  appears  on 
the  Assembly  Journal  of  1705,  and  occasional  mentions  of  it 
occur  until  1/37,  when  the  Exchange  Coffee-House  is  noticed 
in  an  advertisement  in  Bradford's  Gazette.  A  few  years  later 
(1744)  one  appears  of  "  The  Merchants'  Coffee-House,"  which 
stood  on  the  south-east  corner  of  Wall  and  Water  streets,  on 
the  site  later  occupied  by  The  Journal  of  Commerce.  Coffee- 
House  slip  and  Coffee-House  bridge,  which  occupied  the  cen- 
tre of  Wall  street,  running  from  Queen  (now  Pearl)  to  Water 
street,  derived  their  names  from  their  proximity  to  this  Coffee- 
House.  The  Bridge  was  the  place  where  the  "  vendues,"  as 
auctions  were  then  called,  were  held.  A  notice  in  Parker's 
Post  Boy  of  August  27,  1744,  shows  that  this  was  the 
favorite  resort  of  captains.  It  was  for  a  long  time  kept  by  a 
Madame  Ferrari,  until  a  new  building  was  erected  on  the 
opposite  cross  corner,  when  she  removed  to  the  new  house. 
John  Adams,  recording  his  walk  about  the  city  in  1774,  men- 
tions a  visit  to  the  coffee-house,  which  he  found  full  of 
gentlemen,  and  his  reading  of  the  newspapers  there;  but  for 
some  cause  coffee-houses  gradually  declined  toward  the 
close  of  the  colonial  period,  probably  because  of  the  depres- 
sion in  trade  and  general  want  of  ease  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
population,  as  the  next  year  a  long  article  appeared  in  Holt's 
New  York  Journal  calling  on  the  inhabitants  to  support 
these  useful  institutions,  and  complaining  that  those  who  did 
take  advantage  of  their  many  conveniences,  did  not,  as  was 
the  custom  in  England,  do  their  part  to  the  support  of  the 


26 


COFFEE-HOUSES. 


house  by  ordering  a  cup  of  coffee,  a  glass  of  wine,  etc.  Cor- 
nelius Bradford  opened  the  Merchants'  Coff*ee- House  after 
repairs  in  May,  1776,  but  his  stay  was  of  short  duration.  A 
warm  patriot,  he  went  out  with  the  American  army  on  its  re- 
treat, and  remained  near  Rhinebeck  during  the  war.  It  then 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  Mrs.  Smith,  probably  the  person 
who  kept  the  building  next  door,  where  the  Insurance  Office 
was.  Later,  James  Strachan  moved  from  the  tavern  on 
Brownejohn's  wharf,  and  tried  his  fortune  here,  but  without 
success,  as  appears  from  a  piteous  appeal  to  his  debtors,  March, 
1783.  In  October  of  the  same  year,  Cornelius  Bradford  re- 
turned, and  the  Merchants'  Coffee-House  under  his  admirable 
management  became  a  noted  resort.  He  established  in  1784 
the  first  Marine  List  ever  publicly  kept  in  New  York,  from 
which  the  newspaper  notices  were  daily  taken.  He  also 
opened  a  register  where  gentlemen  and  merchants"  were 
requested  to  enter  their  names  and  residences.  This  was  the 
first  approach  to  a  city  directory.  The  first  directory  was 
published  by  David  Franks,  in  1786,  and  contained  the  names 
and  addresses  of  933  persons.  Trow's  City  Directory  for 
1875  contains  233,971  names.  It  must  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  the  first  of  Franks  was  very  incomplete.  The 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Marine  Society  entertained 
Congress  at  the  Merchants'  Coffee-House  in  February,  1784. 
Bradford  died  the  next  year,  but  the  house  remained  in  the 
keeping  of  his  widow  for  some  years,  until  the  building  of 
the  famous  Tontine  Coffee-House,  on  the  northwest  corner 
of  Wail  and  Water  streets  (the  opposite  cross  angle),  when 
the  widow  withdrew.  The  Merchants'  Coffee-House  was  de- 
stroyed in  the  great  fire  of  1804,  and  rebuilt  as  the  Phoenix 
Coffee-House  the  next  year.  The  Tontine  was  projected 
on  the  30th  of  March,  1791,  by  an  assemblage  of  gentlemen 
who  met  at  the  Coffee-House,  with  John  Broome,  at  that 
time  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  as  chairman. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  with  ceremony  on  the  5th  of  June, 
1792,  and  the  building  formally  opened  by  a  great  public 
dinner,  at  which  I20  gentlemen  sat  down,  the  5th  of  June, 
the  following  year  (1793).    The  Tontine  became  celebrated 


RESIDENXES— SUGAR-HOUSES. 


27 


under  the  management  of  John  Hyde,  its  first  host.  A  letter 
on  emigration,  pubHshed  in  London  by  a  gentleman  lately 
returned  from  America,"  recommends  the  house  as  having 

as  elegant  accommodations  as  any  in  London,"  and  as  con- 
sidered to  be  the  best  in  the  United  States.  He  states  the 
cost  of  living  in  a  handsome  apartment  at  £'/0  to  ;^8o  per 
annum,  wine  and  porter  excepted,  and  speaks  of  it  as  fre- 
quented by  all  genteel  strangers  and  the  superior  gentlemen 
of  the  town.  Hyde  died  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1805.  Dur- 
ing the  war  a  Mrs.  Treville  kept  the  London  Coffee- House 
at  the  Exchange. 

Of  the  two  private  houses  of  note,  the  chief  was  the  Ken- 
nedy Mansion,  at  No.  I  Broadway,  built  for  Capt.  Archibald 
Kennedy  of  the  British  Navy,  who  had  married  a  daughter  of 
the  wealthy  colonial  family  of  Watts.  This  house  was  the 
headquarters  of  Gen.  Putnam  in  1776,  and  afterward  of  the 
British  commanders.  The  other  famous  dwelling  was  the 
Walton  House,  an  edifice  of  Holland  brick,  50  feet  front,  and 
three  stories  high,  still  standing,  though  shorn  of  its  architec- 
tural ornaments,  and  known  as  No.  324  Pearl  street.  This  old 
house  was  illuminated  for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766. 

Of  the  four  sugar-houses  three  were  in  the  hands  of  persons 
of  Dutch  descent,  by  whom  this  lucrative  business  was  then 
as  now  almost  monopolized.  The  old  sugar-house  in  Crown 
street  (now  Liberty  street,  near  the  Dutch  church),  built  by 
the  Livingstons,  is  best  known  as  the  British  prison  during 
the  Revolution.  That  built  by  Henry  Cuyler,  Jr.,  for  his 
heir,  Barent  Rynders  Cuyler,  in  1769,  is  still  standing,  a  mas- 
sive structure  on  the  corner  of  Rose  and  Duane  streets.  It 
later  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Rhinelanders,  who  contin- 
ued the  same  business.  The  Van  Cortland  sugar-house  was 
on  the  north-west  corner  of  Trinity  churchyard.  The  Roose- 
velts  also  had  a  sugar-house,  in  Skinners  street,  near  the 
Walton  House.  The  Bayard  sugar- house,  which  stood  in 
Wall  street,  close  to  the  old  City  Hall,  from  1729,  had  been 
in  1773  turned  into  a  tobacco  m.anufactory.  The  Bayards 
introduced  what  they  termed  the  mystery  of  sugar  refin- 
ing "  in  New  York. 


28 


Till-:   WATER  SUPPLY. 


Water  was  supplied  to  the  inliabitants  from  the  Tea  Water 
Pump.  Kahn,  in  liis  account  of  New  York  in  1748,  says: 
"  I  here  is  no  good  water  to  be  met  w  ith  in  the  t(jwn  itself, 
but  at  a  little  distance  there  is  a  large  spring  of  good  water 
which  the  inhabitants  take  for  their  tea  and  the  uses  of  their 
kitchen  :"  hence  the  name  which  the  spring  and  pump  hnig 
retained.  The  Tea  Waterworks,  as  they  were  called,  stood 
in  the  Out  Ward,  on  a  lot  75  by  120,  which  made,  in  1784, 
part  of  the  estate  of  Gerardus  Hardenbrook.  This  lot  fronted 
on  the  Bowery  road,  at  what  was  then  the  head  of  Queen 
(now  Pearl  street),  now  the  west  side  of  Chatham,  nearly  op- 
posite Roosevelt  street.  It  was  said  to  receive  its  supply  of 
water  from  never-failing  springs,  but  in  reality  drew  it  from  a 
pond  not  far  distant,  known  as  the  Collect  Pond  or  Fresh 
Water,  which  lay  where  the  present  Tombs  building  stands 
in  Centre  street.  This  pond  had  an  outlet  on  the  North 
river,  through  what  was  called  the  Canal,  over  which  a  stone 
bridge  was  erected  on  the  line  of  Broadway,  and  another  on 
that  to  the  East  river.  The  Collect  was  unfortunately  filled 
up  by  the  authorities  of  the  city  instead  of  being  enlarged 
and  made  a  water  communication  between  the  two  rivers,  a 
plan  at  one  time  proposed,  which  would  have  afforded  ex- 
cellent basin  accommodation  for  river  transports,  and  a  safe 
winter  harbor.  Nature  seems  to  have  indicated  this  in  her 
original  design.  The  water  still  runs  through  the  Canal 
street  sewer.  The  well  which  supplied  the  famous  Tea  Water 
Pump  was  about  twenty  feet  deep  and  four  feet  in  diameter, 
and  supplied  an  average  daily  drawing  of  from  14,000  to 
15,000  gallons.  In  summer  sometimes  as  many  as  28,000 
gallons  were  taken,  yet  the  depth  of  water  never  fell  below 
three  feet.  The  water  was  sold  at  the  pump  at  three  pence 
the  hogshead.  In  1796  there  was  a  rumor  that  the  supply  of 
water  was  failing,  but  it  was  immediately  contradicted  by  the 
proprietor.  At  this  time  the  water  was  sold  at  the  pump  at 
four  cents  the  hogshead  of  140  gallons.  The  water  was 
carted  through  the  streets  and  retailed  from  door  to  door. 
Two  years  later  its  reputation  became  bad,  the  Collect  was 
reported  as  being     a  shocking  hole,  where  all  impure  things 


/ 


THE  WATER  SUPPLY. 


29 


centre  together."  An  article  in  The  Daily  Advertiser  of 
September  6th,  1798,  urged  the  citizens,  "every  man  for 
himself,  to  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  provide  aqueducts." 

As  early  as  1774  Christopher  Colles,  with  his  usual  saga- 
city, had  proposed  to  erect  a  reservoir  and  to  convey  water 
through  the  several  streets,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  corpora- 
tion erected  a  steam  pumping  engine  near  the  Collect,  but  the 
war  caused  an  abandonment  of  this  plan.  This  enterprise 
was  completed  in  March,  1776.  The  newspapers  describe 
the  engine  as  carrying  a  pump  eleven  inches  in  diameter  and 
six  feet  stroke,  which  lifted  417,600  gallons  daily.  There  is 
a  curious  notice  of  these  works  in  the  journal  of  Dr.  Isaac 
Bangs  of  the  New  England  troops,  who  was  quartered  in  the 
city  in  1776.  He  describes  the  works  as  consisting  of  a  reser- 
voir on  the  top  of  a  hill,  from  which  wooden  pipes  distributed 
it  through  the  city  (the  reservoir  a  quarter  of  an  acre  in  extent)- 
His  astonishment  was  excited  by  the  working  of  the  machine 
which  lifted  the  water  throucrh  a  wooden  tube.  With  his  native 
curiosity,  however,  he  mastered  the  problem  and  gives  a 
lucid  description  of  the  steam-engine.  In  1799  the  Manhat- 
tan Company  was  chartered  to  supply  the  city  with  w^ater, 
and  the  Bronx  river  was  proposed  as  the  source  of  supply. 
A  pump  was  built  near  the  Collect  and  wooden  pipes  laid 
through  the  streets,  and  the  inhabitants  served  with  water  for 
a  long  period.  It  was  not  until  the  completion,  in  1842,  of 
the  Croton  Aqueduct,  that  colossal  and  beneficent  monument 
of  New  York  enterprise,  that  there  was  assured  to  the  pop- 
ulation a  never-failing  supply  of  pure  water,  the  first  condi- 
tion of  prosperity  and  health,  an  enterprise  so  eloquently  and 
prophetically  described  by  the  late  John  Romeyn  Brodhead 
at  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  this  Society  in  1844 — *'the 
stern  and  majestic  ruins  that  frown  over  the  desolate  Cam- 
pagna  are  not  more  impressive  monuments  to  the  Emperor 
Claudius  than  will  the  aqueduct  of  New  York  be  an  enduring 
memorial  of  the  far-reaching  philanthropy  of  those  who  pro- 
jected and  advocated  this  noble  work." 

Even  before  the  Revolution  the  city  provided  itself  with 
the  purely  American  luxury,  ice,  the  use  of  which  is  only  at 


M  A  R  K  KTS  —  C  EM  ETE  R I ES . 


this  late  chi}'  bcconiin<^  <;oncral  in  I'Lurope  by  the  example  ot 
American  traxcllers.  There  were  several  ice-houses,  all  of 
which  took  their  supply  from  the  fresh  water.  The  prin- 
cipal of  these  buildings  was  situated  on  the  North  River, 
near  Trinity  Churchyard. 

The  principal  market  was  the  Fly  Market,  so  called  from 
Vly,  or  valley,  its  site  having  been  originally  a  salt  meadow. 
It  stood  at  the  foot  of  Maiden  lane,  and  was  supplied,  as 
New  York  has  always  been,  with  an  endless  variety  of  fish 
and  shell-fish  of  the  most  delicious  kind,  and  with  meat, 
poultry  and  fruit — the  latter  in  abundant  profusion.  The 
other  markets  of  importance  were  the  Bear  Market,  now 
Washington,  on  the  west  side  of  the  city,  between  Green- 
wich street  and  the  Hudson  ;  the  Oswego  Market,  which 
was  built  on  the  site  of  the  old  Broadway,  in  1771,  and  stood 
in  Maiden  lane,  between  Broadway  and  Nassau  street,  until 
removed  as  a  nuisance  in  18 10,  when  its  stalls  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Bear  Market.  There  was  also  a  market  at  Peck 
slip,  built  in  1763,  occupied  as  a  storehouse  by  the  British, 
again  restored  after  the  war,  deserted  when  Catharine  Market 
was  built,  in  1786,  and  finally  removed  in  1792.  Still  another 
was  opened  at  the  foot  of  Broad  street,  at  the  Exchange,  on 
the  petition  of  the  inhabitants  during  the  war,  there  being 
no  other  convenient  to  the  population  in  this  locality. 

Besides  the  Trinity  Church  Cemetery,  which  was  the  city 
burying  ground  from  an  early  period,  and  the  gra\eyards 
attached  to  the  churches,  there  was  a  Jewish  cemetery  at  the 
corner  of  Oliver  and  Chatham  streets,  and  a  negro  burying - 
ground  on  the  spot  immediately  north  of  the  common  now 
occupied  by  A.  T.  Stewart's  dry-goods  store. 

Bradford's  New  York  Gazette  and  Zenger's  New  York 
Weekly  Journal,  the  one  the  organ  of  the  Colonial  Govern- 
ment, and  the  other  of  the  Opposition  party,  make  frequent 
mention  of  a  club  named  the  Hunc  Over  De,  which  met  at 
the  houses  of  four  gentlemen,  where  lively  discussions  seem 
to  have  taken  place.  A  letter  of  one  Andrew  Merrill  to 
Zenger  says,  that  "the  members  were  merry  enough  ;  but  they 
had  like  to  have  demolished  the  ladies'  tea-table  at  whose 


CLUBS  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL. 


31 


house  the  chib  was.  They  had  not  much  party  till  supper 
came,  and  then  they  were  as  warm  as  scollopt  oysters." 
Politics  ran  high  at  this  time,  1/3 5- 1736,  when  Colonel 
Lewis  Morris,  afterward  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  and  James 
De  Lancey,  later  Lieutenant-Governor  of  New  York,  were 
struggling  for  the  control  of  the  province  of  New  York. 

A  Whig  Club  was  formed  in  1752,  which  met  once  each 
week  at  the  King's  Arms  Tavern.  Of  this  William  Living- 
ston, William  Smith  and  John  Morin  Scott,  the  Presbyterian 
leaders,  were  members,  and  as  they  were  not  of  the  order 
of  men  who  consent  to  take  secondary  places,  no  doubt  the 
founders.  The  King's  Arms  Tavern  was  at  this  time  in 
Broad  street,  opposite  to  the  Royal  Exchange,  and  kept  by 
George  Burns. 

Before  the  war  the  Social  Club  met  every  Saturday  even- 
ing in  winter  at  Sam  Fraunces'  Tavern,  and  enjoyed  them- 
selves after  the  usual  manner.  In  summer  the  members  met 
at  Kip's  Bay,  where  they  built  a  neat  and  comfortable  house. 
It  was  at  this  point  the  British  landed,  September  15,  1776. 
The  club  dispersed  at  the  time  of  the  war,  and  never  reas- 
sembled. An  account  of  the  club  and  a  list  of  its  members 
were  found  among  the  papers  of  Mr.  John  Moore,  and  pre- 
sented to  the  New  York  Historical  Society  by  his  son,  T.  W. 
C.  Moore.  Among  its  members  were  John  Jay,  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Egbert  Benson,  Gulian 
C.  Verplanck,  Morgan  Lewis,  the  Ludlows,  Watts,  Lispen- 
ards,  Bards  and  others.  The  lawyers  had  a  club  which  they 
called  the  Moot,  organized  in  1770,  where  disputed  points  of 
law  were  formally  debated.  Such  veteran  lawyers  as  Wil- 
liam Smith,  John  Morin  Scott,  Richard  Morris,  and  among 
the  younger,  Samuel  Jones,  John  Jay,  R.  R.  Livingston, 
James  Duane,  Gouverneur  Morris,  and  Peter  Van  Schaack, 
need  only  be  named  to  show  the  character  of  the  society. 
The  Moot  was  held  at  Barden's  Tavern,  on  the  evening  of 
the  first  Friday  in  every  month.  Barden's  Tavern  was  in 
1770  at  the  corner  of  Murray  and  Broadway. 

After  the  war  the  Belvedere  was  organized  by  thirty-three 
gentlemen,  and  a  building  erected  on  the  corner  of  Cherry  and 


3^5 


CLU15S  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL 


Montgomery  streets,  in  the  year  1792.  The  chib  building  com- 
prised a  ball-room  with  a  music  gallery,  bar-rooms,  and  bed- 
rooms, and  had  a  large  balcony  from  which  there  was  a  beauti- 
ful \  icw  of  the  ICast  River  and  Long  Island.  Attached  to  the 
house  were  bowling-alleys,  coach-houses,  a  green,  with  gravel 
walks  and  shrubbery,  elegantly  laid  out  and  cared  for.  This 
was  a  celebrated  club,  and  included  such  members  as  Bab- 
cock,  Constable,  Fish,  McEvers,  Kemble,  Ludlow,  Scton, 
Hoffman  and  Van  Horne — all  leaders  of  fashion  and  the  beaux 
of  the  day.  They  met  on  Saturday  nights,  also  evenings 
specially  set  apart  for  social  gatherings,  and  the  strangers  in 
the  city  were  generally  invited  guests.  The  Sub-Rosa  was 
another  club  of  thirty  gentlemen,  who  met  on  Saturday 
evenings  at  a  tavern  kept  by  Rebecca  Gere,  at  Corlears 
Hook.  This  dame  bore  the  sobriquet  in  the  club  of  "  Our 
Hostess  of  the  Garter."  This  club,  organized  in  1794,  was 
essentially  a  dining  club  ;  no  cards  were  allowed  by  the 
articles  until  two  hours  after  dinner,  and  no  discussions  dur- 
ing or  after  dinner.  Such  men  as  Robert  Lenox,  Thomas 
Roach,  Buchanan,  Bayard,  Winthrop,  Henry  Cruger,  Wal- 
ton, Gouverneur,  Sherbrooke,  and  Laight  composed  this 
solid  band  of  good  livers.  The  minutes  of  their  proceedings 
show  that  the  proposal  of  an  unfortunate  member,  that  the 
bill  of  fare  consist  of  cold  beef  or  lamb,  was  voted  down  by 
the  conclusive  majority  of  eleven  to  three. 

New  York  had  always  been  celebrated  for  the  elegance  of 
its  life.  When,  in  Parliament,  the  poverty  and  exhaustion 
of  the  colonies  after  the  French  war  was  given  as  a  reason 
why  they  should  not  be  taxed,  the  "  plea  was  rebutted  by  an 
appeal  to  the  elegant  entertainments  given  by  the  city  of 
New  York  to  the  officers  of  the  British  army,  and  the  daz- 
zling display  of  silver  plate  at  their  dinners,  equal,  if  not 
superior,  to  any  nobleman's."  John  Adams,  in  his  diary, 
constantly  refers  in  terms  of  wonder  to  the  luxury  of  life  in 
the  city,  to  the  plate,  the  damask,  and  the  choice  luxury  of 
the  food.  Even  the  butter  did  not  escape  his  notice  and  his 
praise.  He  complains,  however,  that  the  gentlemen  did  not 
wait  for  him  to  finish  his  sentences  before  interrupting  him 


SOCIETIES. 


33 


with  their  remarks.  The  New  Yorkers  were  then,  as  now, 
a  mercurial  people,  a  quality  they  derived  from  the  large 
intermixture  of  foreign  element  in  their  blood,  and  perhaps 
John  Adams  \vas  himself  a  little  prosy  and  pompous.  New 
England  has  always  been  declamatory. 

Of  the  numerous  foreign  National  Societies  now  in  exist- 
ence, only  one  was  incorporated  in  the  Colonial  period,  that 
of  St.  Andrew,  which  was  instituted  on  the  19th  November, 
1756,  as  a  society  for  charitable  purposes,  with  Philip  Living- 
ston as  president.  The  English,  Welsh,  and  Irish  born  resi- 
dents were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  at  Sam  Fraunces',  Bolton's, 
Barden's,  or  Burns's  Taverns,  on  their  Saints'  days  of  St. 
George,  St.  David,  St.  Patrick,  and  contributions  were  then 
made  for  the  poor  of  their  nationality.  The  St.  George's 
Society  was  established  in  1786  ;  the  St.  Patrick's  later. 

The  St.  Tammany  Society,  or  Independent  Order  of  Lib- 
erty, was  first  organized  in  1789.  It  announced  itself  as  "  a 
National  Society,  consists  of  Americans  born  who  fill  all 
ofiices,  and  adopted  Americans  who  are  eligible  to  the  hon- 
orary posts  of  warrior  and  hunter.  It  is  founded  on  the  true 
principles  of  patriotism,  and  has  for  its  motives  charity  and 
brotherly  love."  In  1792  its  members  formed  a  Tontine 
association,  under  the  name  of  the  New  York  Tammanial 
Tontine  Association,  to  expire  in  May,  1820,  whose  primary, 
object  was  stated  to  be  the  building  of  a  hall,  with  a  view  to 
accommodate  the  Tammany  Society  ;  "  but  so  far  as  a  build- 
ing was  concerned  the  plan  does  not  appear  to  have  been  suc- 
cessful. The  Society  was  incorporated  under  the  name  of 
the  "  Society  of  Tammany,  or  Columbian  Order,"  on  the  9th 
April,  1805,  for  the  purpose  of  affording  relief  to  the  indi- 
gent and  distressed."  It  is  needless  to  state  how  widely  its 
practices  have  diverged  from  its  original  purpose,  unless  upon 
the  principle  that  charity  begins  at  home. 

The  Black  Friars  was  a  society  established  for  social,  chari- 
table, and  humane  purposes,  on  the  lOth  November,  1784. 

The  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  was  organized  at  the  Canton- 
ment of  the  American  Army  on  Hudson  River,  May  lOth, 
1 783?  by  the  officers  of  the  Army  of  the  Revolution,  as  a 


34 


COLONIAL  COMMERCE. 


Society  of  Friends,  with  a  provision  that  its  future  member- 
ship sliould  be  limited  to  their  male  posterity.  The  New 
York  branch  organized  the  Stli  July  following,  at  New  Wind- 
sor ;  their  annual  meetings  are  always  held  in  the  city. 

Besides  these  societies  may  be  mentioned  the  Society  for 
the  Manumission  of  Slaves,  and  protecting  such  of  them  as 
have  been  or  may  be  liberated,  organized  in  Februar)',  1785, 
with  John  Jay  as  president  and  John  Keese  as  secretary. 
Their  articles  of  association  were  published  in  Loudon's  New 
York  Packet  of  21st  February,  1785.  The  General  Society 
of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  was  originally  designed  in  1784, 
and  appeared  before  the  Legislature  in  application  for  a  char- 
ter in  the  following  year,  failing  which  it  was  formally  insti- 
tuted on  the  4th  August,  1785.  It  obtained  an  act  of  incor- 
poration March  14,  1792,  which  was  renewed  in  18 10.  This 
Society  built  the  well  known  Mechanics'  Hall,  corner  of  Park 
place  and  Broadway,  and  is  still  in  existence.  A  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Useful  Knowledge  was  formed,  of  which 
Georcie  Clinton  was  President.  This  was  a  revival  of  the  old 
New  York  Society,  which  was  formed  before  the  war  for 
similar  purposes.  They  met  on  the  13th  July,  1785,  at  Cape's 
Tavern. 

The  first  directory  of  1786  makes  mention  also  of  a  Gold 
and  Silver  Smiths'  Society  in  existence  in  1786,  and  of  a 
Society  of  Peruke  Makers  and  Hair  Dressers,  which  met  at 
Mr.  Ketchum's,  No.  22  Ann  street,  the  same  year.  Hair- 
dressing,  when  perukes  and  queues  were  in  fashion,  was  a 
business  of  importance. 

The  physical,  popular,  and  social  features  of  New  York,  at 
the  close  of  the  colonial  period,  and  during  the  war,  have 
been  presented.  It  only  remains  to  give  some  account  of  the 
commerce  of  the  city,  to  establish  a  basis  for  the  comparison 
of  New  York  as  it  was  in  1776  with  the  New  York  of  to-day. 

The  preparation  of  flour  for  export  had  always  been  a  chief 
industry  of  the  city  and  colony.    An  old  document  in  the 
English  records  of  1698  speaks  of  "  grain  as  the  staple  com- 
moditie  of  the  Province  of  New  York,"  and  adds  that  the 
citizens  had  no  sooner  perceived  that  there  were  greater 


COLONIAL  COMMERCE. 


35 


quantities  of  wheat  raised  than  could  be  consumed  within  the 
said  Province  but  they  contrived  a7id  invented  the  art  of  bolt- 
ing, by  which  they  converted  the  wheat  into  flour,  and  made 
it  a  manufacture,  not  only  profitable  to  all  the  inhabitants  of 
this  Province,  by  the  encouragement  of  tillage  and  naviga- 
tion, but  likewise  beneficial  and  commodious  to  all  the  planta- 
tions, and  the  improvement  thereof  is  the  true  and  only  cause 
of  the  growth,  strength  and  increase  of  buildings  within  the 
same,  and  of  the  riches,  plenty  of  money,  and  rise  of  the  value 
of  lands  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Province,  and  the  livelihood 
of  all  the  inhabitants  of  tliis  cit}'  did  chiefly  depend  thereon." 
The  Minutes  of  the  Common  Council  of  1692  record  that  the 
Supreme  Court  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  City  of  New 
York  had  the  charter  or  privilege  of  bolting  or  packing  flour. 
Gov.  Andros  prohibited  the  transportation  of  wheat  that 
the  same  might  be  improved  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  city"  in 
bolting  it  into  flour,  and  to  bake  '  bisketts  '  for  transporta- 
tion." Of  this  privilege  New  York  was  deprived  by  Act  of 
Assembly  in  1694.  The  writer  complains  that  the  City  of 
New  York,  which  had  been  called  the  granary  of  America, 
where  never  less  than  40,000  or  50,000  bushels  of  wheat  were 
in  store,  suffered  greatly  in  consequence  of  this  legislation,  and 
the  supply  fell  oft*  to  scarce  1,000  bushels,  insufficient  for  the 
supply  of  the  inhabitants.  The  sketch  closes  with  the  re- 
markable statement  that  of  the  983  houses  then  in  New  York, 
600  depended  upon  bolting  ;"  while  in  the  three  counties 
of  Kings,  Queens,  and  Ulster,  there  were  not  over  30 
"  bolters."  Notwithstanding  the  careful  attention  paid 
by  the  Assembly  of  the  Colony  to  the  inspection  of  flour, 
as  its  minutes  abundantly  show,  and  in  fact  compulsory 
inspection  was  not  abolished  until  1843  (April  18),  both 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  had  excelled  New"  York  in  this 
product,  and  the  superfine  flour  of  their  manufacture  com- 
manded higher  prices  than  that  of  New  York.  In  1768  New 
York  exported  80,000  barrels  of  flour  to  the  West  Indies,' and 
received  in  return  rum,  sugar,  and  molasses.  Provisions  also 
were  exported  to  the  Spanish  Main,  wheat,  flour,  Indian  corn, 
and  timber  to  Lisbon  and  Madeira — and  before  the  Revolution 
3 


36 


COLONIAL  COMMKRCE. 


the  nianufacture  of  pot  and  pearl  ashes  had  become  an  im- 
portant industr\'.  There  was  also  a  considerable  export  of 
flaxseed  to  Ireland,  in  return  for  which  linens  were  received. 
In  addition  to  these  there  had  been  from  the  earliest  history 
of  the  Colony  a  large  and  profitable  trade  in  peltr)-.  All 
Northern  and  Western  New  York  was  a  fur-yielding  coun- 
try, and  thousands  of  hunters  traversed  the  great  interior  in 
pursuit  of  skins. 

The  old  seal  of  the  Province  itself  gives  evidence  of  the 
importance  of  the  two  great  interests  of  the  Colony,  the  beaver 
and  flour-barrel  being  both  borne  upon  the  arms.  The  beavei 
figured  upon  the  seal  of  New  Amsterdam  from  1654  ;  the 
flour-barrel  was  added  after  the  English  conquest  in  1686. 
The  fur  trade  had  declined  after  the  capture  of  the  Canadas,  but 
was  again  to  revive  with  the  new-born  sympathy  of  the  Cana- 
dians, French,  and  Indian  half-breeds  for  the  Americans. 
Already  young  Astor,  who  arrived  here  in  1784,  was  travers- 
ing the  wilderness  and  organizing  the  vast  trade  which  was 
the  foundation  of  the  colossal  fortune  which  attracted  univer- 
sal notice  a  few  days  since  as  it  passed,  quintupled  in  magni- 
tude, to  a  second  generation,  a  fortune  in  itself  the  most 
remarkable  witness  of  the  growth  of  the  city  which  alone  has 
swelled  it  to  its  enormous  magnitude. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  with  France  and  Spain,  in  1763, 
began  the  period  of  greatest  commercial  activity  in  the  Colo- 
nies. In  May  of  that  year  the  lighthouse  at  Sandy  Hook  was 
lighted  for  the  first  time.  The  lucrative  business  of  priva- 
teering, in  which  New  York  largely  indulged  whenever  there 
was  an  occasion,  and  to  which  the  rich  galleons  of  Spain, 
heavy  with  the  freight  of  the  Indies,  contributed  many  a 
prize,  had  of  course  fallen  with  the  general  peace. 

In  the  year  1773,  the  importations  by  New  York  from 
England  reached  the  sum  of  i^53 1,000,  and  her  exports 
^529,000,  the  chief  export  business  being,  as  has  been  shown, 
wMth  the  West  Indies.  In  the  year  ended  January  5,  177^, 
the  customs  books  report  among  other  exports  from  New 
York  in  705  vessels,  104,357  barrels  flour  and  19,033  tierces 
and  barrels  bread,  700,689  bushels  wheat,  66,045  Indian  corn, 


POPULATION    AXD  COMMERCE. 


VI 


111,845  flaxseed,  99,949  casks  of  beef  and  pork,  3,057  casks 
of  butter. 

Such  were  the  conditions  under  which  Xew  York  began 
her  new  career.  It  will  not  be  possible  to  measure  the 
gigantic  strides  of  her  progress  in  every  walk  of  life  through 
the  centur}',  or  give  more  than  a  faint  sketch  of  the  innumer- 
able details  which  fill  its  history.  In  the  preceding  an  en- 
deavor has  been  made  to  present  New  York  as  it  was  in  I776» 
and  to  show  the  changes  caused  by  the  war  in  its  physical 
appearance.  The  returning  patriots  who  left  the  cit\'  on  the 
entrance  of  the  British  troops  found  it  on  their  departure  not 
only  deserted,  but,  as  Dunlap  describes  it,  a  mass  of  "  black 
unsightly  rubbish." 

The  population  of  the  city  at  this  period  (1783)  cannot  be 
accurately  ascertained.  A  great  change  was  then  occurring 
with  the  outgoing  of  the  loyalists  and  the  incoming  of  the 
patriot  population,  and  the  arrival  of  large  numbers  of  new 
settlers  who,  attracted  by  the  natural  advantages  of  New 
York,  proposed  to  make  it  their  home  ;  among  these  many 
New  Englanders,  whose  energy  and  enterprise  contributed 
largely  to  its.  growth  and  prosperit}\  In  1768  the  city  was 
estimated  by  Noah  Webster,  a  competent  authority,  to  con- 
tain 3,340  dwelling-houses  and  a  population  of  2-3,614  souls. 
This  little  city  was  then  the  second  in  importance  of  the 
Western  Continent — Philadelphia,  the  first,  had  at  this  period 
40,000 — Boston,  owing  to  her  inferior  situation  and  climate, 
had  been  already  outrun  by  her  more  fortunate  rivals,  and  her 
population  did  not  exceed  15,000.  Baltimore  followed  with 
14,000,  and  Charleston,  which  at  one  time  had  ambition  equal 
to  any  of  her  sisters,  10,000.  New  York  had  already  begun 
to  feel  within  her  broad  loins  the  throes  of  empire,  and  was 
looking  forward  to  her  magnificent  destiny.  Already  it  com 
manded  the  trade  of  the  larger  part  of  New  Jersey,  of  Con- 
necticut, and  part  of  ^Massachusetts,  besides  the  vast  interior 
country  to  which  its  imperial  river  gave  it  access,  and  the 
eye  of  enterprise  was  measuring  the  distances  from  sea  and 
river  to  the  interior  lakes,  over  which  connections  might  be 
made,  to  lock  the  whole  in  one  grand  system  of  internal  com- 


38 


Cl RKKNCV 


miinication  which  should  open  an  avenue  for  the  commerce 
of  a  continent.  Tl^c  road  to  the  Canadian  provinces  and  the 
great  Nortli-Wcst  was  up  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  at 
its  moutli  la\'  the  matchless  land-locked  harbor,  safe  anchor- 
age for  fleets  of  untold  macrnitude.  The  mission  of  New 
York  was  commerce,  and  she  early  understood  it.  Phila- 
delphia  had  at  this  period  outstripped  her  sister  cities  in 
manufacturing  of  all  kinds,  and  New  York  seems  never  to 
have  undertaken  any  serious  rivalry  in  this  branch  of  in- 
dustr}'.    She  recognized  that  commerce  was  her  vocation. 

During  the  colonial  period  New  York  had  always  been 
extremely  careful  of  her  credit,  and  her  issues  of  paper 
money  were  never  in  excess  of  the  absolute  demands  of 
trade.  The  first  issue  was  made  in  i/io,  but  no  such  bills 
were  made  a  legal  tender  after  1737.  Later,  when  a  new 
issue  was  consented  to  by  Lieut. -Gov.  Golden,  in  1770,  they 
were  only  made  a  tender  at  the  Loan  Offices  and  Treasury, 
a  well-regulated  sinking  fund  prevented  depreciation,  and 
New  York  bills  were  at  par  all  over  the  country,  and  equal 
to  silver. 

For  some  time  after  the  war  the  currency  v^'as  expressed 
in  pounds  sterling.  Hamilton,  in  his  famous  report  to  Gon- 
gress,  January  28,  1791,  on  the  establishment  of  a  mint,  says: 
''The  pound,  though  of  various  value,  is  the  unit  of  the 
money  account  of  all  the  States.  But  it  is  not  equally  easy 
to  pronounce  what  is  to  be  considered  as  the  unit  in  the 
coins,  there  being  no  formal  regulation  on  this  point." 
**  But,"  he  continues,  "  the  manner  of  adjusting  foreign  ex- 
changes would  seem  to  indicate  the  dollar  as  best  entitled  to 
that  character."  Before  the  Revolution,  the  debasement  of 
coin  by  clipping  and  washing  had  become  a  general  and 
anno}'ing  evil.  As  all  the  coins  were  foreign,  and  the  Lyon 
dollar,  introduced  by  the  Dutch,  was  the  only  legal  tender  of 
coin  in  the  Golony,  the  Provincial  authorities  had  been 
powerless  to  remedy  the  evil  ;  the  Lyon  dollar,  the  value  of 
which  was  fixed  as  early  as  1720  as  '*  seventeen  pennyweight 
for  fifteen  pennyweight  of  Sevil  pillar  or  Mexican  plate," 
having  almost  disappeared.    The  proclamation  of  the  King, 


FOUNDING  OF  BANKS. 


39 


June  24,  1774,  had  directed  the  breaking  up  of  all  British 
coins  which  should  reach  the  Treasury  deficient  Jn  weight ; 
but  this  rather  increased  than  abated  the  evil  in  the  Colonies. 
The  dollar  was,  therefore,  only  a  money  of  account,  and — 
like  the  marc  banco  of  Hamburg — a  fictitious  symbol  of 
value  by  which  all  others  were  measured. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  State  Constitution  in  1777,  but 
two  laws  were  passed  making  bills  of  credit.  The  first,  March 
27,  1 78 1,  was  for  $41 1,250  to  pay  the  proportion  called  for  by 
Congress  toward  the  expenses  of  the  war.  The  bills  of  the 
Provincial  Congress  as  well  as  the  Continental  bills  were  made 
a  legal  tender.  The  only  other  law  passed  making  bills  of 
credit  was  one  of  April  18,  1786,  for  ;^200,ooo,  which  pro- 
vided that  they  be  received  in  all  payments  to  the  State 
Treasury,  and  limited  their  circulation  to  the  year  1 800. 
On  the  30th  of  March,  1780,  an  act  was  passed  fixing  the 
rates  at  which  the  Continental  issues  should  be  taken.  By 
the  act  it  was  declared  that  $146  of  Continental  issue  of 
June  I,  1778,  was  the  equivalent  of  $100;  $679  of  the  issue 
of  Jan.  I,  1779;  $5,932  of  the  issue  of  Jan.  i,  1780,  and 
$4,000  of  th^it  of  March  16,  1780,  showing  a  depreciation  in 
the  value  of  the  last  issues  to  two  and  one  half  per  centum 
of  the  face  of  the  bill.  In  1781  an  act  was  passed  repealing 
all  laws  making  bills  of  credit  a  legal  tender,  and  four  years 
later  all  such  bills  in  the  Treasury  were  destroyed.  Such 
were  the  sound  principles  upon  which  this  mercantile  com- 
munity began  its  career. 

During  the  Colonial  period  there  was  no  such  institution 
known  as  an  incorporated  bank.  The  Bank  of  North 
America,  the  first  of  this  nature  in  the  United  States,  origi- 
nated in  the  efTorts  of  the  merchants  and  citizens  of  Philadel- 
phia to  supply  the  wants  of  the  army  in  1780,  and  the  honor 
of  its  conception  was  due  to  the  distinguished  financier  and 
patriot,  Robert  Morris.  The  bank  was  incorporated  by  an 
ordinance  of  Congress  Dec.  24,  1 781,  and  by  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  Pennsylvania  April  i,  1782.  On  the  lOth  of  the 
same  month  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  then  sitting  at 
Poughkeepsie,  passed  an  act  to  prevent  the  establishment  of 


40 


FOUNDING  OF  HANKS. 


any  bank  within  lliis  State,  other  tlian  the  Hank  of  North 
America,  clurin<^  the  war.  The  importance  of  a  local  insti- 
tution became  evident  soon  after  the  peace.  On  the  I2th 
of  I'ebruary,  1784,  a  plan  of  a  bank  appeared  in  The  New 
York  Packet,  and  on  the  28th  a  notice  was  issued  in  the  same 
journal  "  invitin<^  all  gentlemen  disposed  to  establish  a  bank 
on  liberal  principles,  the  stock  to  consist  of  specie  only, 
to  meet  at  the  Merchants'  Coffee-I louse  the  next  evening." 
Ever}'  effort  was  made  to  attract  subscribers  by  notices  in  the 
newspapers,  public  placards  on  the  street  corners  and  per- 
sonal application.  The  capital  proposed  to  be  raised  was 
$500,000.  When  about  one-third  of  that  sum  ($150,000)  had 
been  taken,  it  was  resolved  to  commence  operations.  On 
Monday,  the  15th  of  March,  1784,  the  Bank  of  New  York  was 
organized,  with  Alexander  McDougall  as  President  "and 
William  Seton  as  Cashier.  An  application  for  a  charter  was 
refused  by  the  Legislature,  and  the  bank  did  not  become  a 
corporate  body  until  the  21st  of  March,  1791,  with  a  capital 
of  $1,000,000.  This  was  the  only  bank  in  New  York  before 
1800.  The  Manhattan  Company,  originally  organized  in 
1799,  to  supply  the  city  with  water,  only  availed  itself  of  its 
banking  privileges  at  a  later  period.  The  next,  the  Merchants' 
Bank,  commenced  operations  without  a  charter  in  1804.  In 
1815,  Mr.  Isaac  Bronson,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  An 
Appeal  to  the  Public,"  stated  the  active  capital  of  the  banks 
of  the  city  to  be  $13,515,000.  On  the  31st  of  December, 
1874,  there  were  59  banks,  with  a  capital  of  $85,166,100, 
deposits  of  $165,918,700,  and  a  circulation  of  $24,977,300. 
The  transactions  of  the  Clearing-house,  in  which  the  banks 
are  associated,  for  the  year  1874  reached  the  enormous  sum  of 
$2,226,832,247.89. 

This  is  not  the  occasion  for  a  history  of  banking  in  this 
city  or  a  eulogy  of  the  banking  laws  of  this  State  under 
which  this  difificult  business  was  carried  on  for  so  many  years 
with  safety  and  success.  Nor  is  there  room  for  an  account  of 
its  vicissitudes  and  trials.  In  all  financial  disasters  the  banks 
of  this  city  have  borne  themselves  with  credit  and  courage. 
Whatever  opinions  may  be  entertained  of  the  wisdom  of  their 


INSURANCE  COMPANIES. 


41 


policy,  on  occasions  of  grave  emergency,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  they  have  always  kept  in  view  the  best  interests  not  only 
of  their  stockholders,  but  of  the  community  at  large.  By 
common  consent  the  financial  centre  of  the  country,  New 
York  has  always  led  the  way  to  resumption  when  suspension 
of  specie  payment  became  inevitable.  Such  was  the  case  in 
1817,  in  1839,  in  i857-  In  1861  the  scheme  was  here  devised 
which  associated  the  banks  of  the  four  great  commercial 
cities  in  support  of  the  Government,  and  enabled  them  to 
make  to  it  the  colossal  loan  of  $1 50,000,000  in  coin.  It  may 
be  truly  said  of  the  New  York  banks  that  they  spared  no 
effort  to  keep  the  country  on  a  specie  basis  and  to  avert  the 
calamities  which  have  fallen  upon  it  from  excessive  issues  of 
paper  money — a  dark  disaster  to  which  the  well-worn  quota- 
tion may  be  applied  with  perfect  fitness — "  Facilis  est  descen- 
sus Averni,  scd  revocai'c  gradmn,  hie  labor,  hoc  opits  est.'' 

The  first  savings  bank  was  the  Bank  for  Savings  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  incorporated  on  the  26th  of  March,  1819. 
Its  plan  was  devised  in  the  rooms  of  this  Society  by  John 
Pintard,  to  whose  sagacity  New  York  owes  so  many  of  its 
most  useful  and  thriving  institutions,  and  Thomas  Eddy.  The 
deposits  from  the  3d  of  July  to  the  27th  of  December  (18 19) 
reached  the  sum  of  $153,378  from  1,527  depositors.  On  the 
31st  of  December,"  1874,  there  were  44  savings  banks  in  this 
city,  holding  $180,010,703  from  494,086  depositors. 

Insurance  companies,  or  associations  of  individuals  for  the 
purpose  of  insurance  under  the  management  of  a  chosen  board 
of  officers,  are  of  comparatively  modern  growth.  The  old 
fashion  was  difTerent.  Then  any  persons  inclined  to  under- 
write risks  made  their  undertaking  at  some  public  place  where 
the  policies  upon  which  insurance  w^as  desired  were  shown, 
and  kept  books  of  their  own  in  which  their  liabilities  upon  such 
policies  were  entered.  In  the  middle  of  last  century  the 
**01d  Insurance  Office,"  as  it  was  called  in  1759,  was 
kept  at  the  Coffee-House,  where  the  clerks  of  the  office, 
Keteltas  and  Sharpe,  attended  every  day  from  12  till  i  in 
the  day,  and  6  to  8  in  the  evening.  A  rival  office,  the 
New  York  Insurance  Of^ce,  with  Anthony  Van  Dam  for 


42 


insurancl:  companiks. 


clerk,  was  established  the  same  year,  and  a  permanent 
office  taken  next  door  to  the  CofTee-I  louse.  This  was 
the  office  ])atronized  by  the  Waltons,  Crugers,  Jaunceys, 
and  other  city  capitalists.  In  1778,  when  the  destruction 
of  vessels  and  convoys  by  the  adventurous  American  pri- 
vateers had  greatly  enhanced  the  risk  of  navigation,  "  the 
New  Insurance  Office  "  was  opened  at  the  Coffee-House. 
The  mode  in  which  this  business  was  done  is  shown  by  an 
announcement  of  Cunningham  &  Wardrop,  "  Insurance 
Brokers,"  who  advertised  in  1779  that  they  had  opened  a 
"Public  Insurance  Office,"  where  policies  arc  received  and 
offered  to  the  merchants  and  underwriters  generally.  Each 
underwriter  subscribed  his  name  for  the  sum  he  engaged. 
An  interesting  hand-book  of  the  insurances  of  William  Wal- 
ton, in  sums  varying  from  £400  to  £S^y  still  preserved. 
AH  these  offices  were  for  marine  insurance.  The  first  marine 
insurance  company  organized  after  the  w^ar  was  the  United 
Insurance  Company,  founded  in  1795,  or  early  in  1796, 
and  chartered  March  20,  1798,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000. 
The  charter  allowed  fire  as  well  as  marine  risks.  The  second 
was  the  New  York  Insurance  Company,  founded  in  1796,  and 
incorporated  April  2,  1798,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000.  The 
first  company  which  confined  itself  wholly  to  sea  risks  was 
the  Marine  Insurance  Company,  which  commenced  business 
Nov.  19,  1801,  with  a  capital  of  $250,000.  To-day  there  are 
nine  marine  insurance  companies,  with  assets  reported  Dec. 
31,  1874,  at  $25,035,785.62. 

The  first  proposal  for  insurance  against  fire  seems  to  have 
been  a  motion  made  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  by  Mr. 
John  Thurman  on  the  3d  of  April,  1770,  that  "as  it  is  the 
desire  of  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  to  have  tlieir 
estates  insured  from  loss  by  fire,  and  that  losses  of  this  sort 
may  not  fall  upon  individuals,  the  Chamber  take  into  consid- 
eration some  plan  that  may  serve  so  good  a  purpose."  The 
consideration  of  tlie  subject  was  postponed,  and  no  action 
taken.  On  Feb.  16,  1874,  a  notice  appeared  in  The  New  York 
Packet:  "Some  gentlemen  have  now  in  contemplation  to 
form  a  company  for  insuring  houses  in  this  city  against  fire. 


COMMERCIAL  LIFE. 


43 


Such  houses  as  are  insured  will  be  of  course  received  as  secu- 
rity in  the  bank  ;  "  and  a  further  attempt  was  made  by  Mr. 
John  Delafield  in  April,  1785,  to  establish  a  "  fire  insurance 
office,"  but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  successful.  The 
first  fire  insurance  company  was  organized  by  John  Pintard 
(who  became  its  secretary),  June  15,  1787,  under  the  name 
of  the  Mutual  Assurance  Company.  An  act  of  incorporation 
was  obtained  March  28,  1809.  To-day  there  are  74  fire  in- 
surance companies  in  the  city,  with  assets  reported  Dec.  31^ 


The  first  notice  of  a  life  insurance  company  appears  in 
an  act  of  incorporation  of  the  Mechanics'  Life  Insurance  and 
Coal  Company  on  the  28th  of  February,  1822,  with  power 
to  make  insurance  upon  lives  or  in  any  way  depending  upon 
lives,  to  grant  annuities,  and  to  open,  find  out,  discover,  and 
work  coal-beds  within  this  State." 

To-day  there  are  in  the  city  21  life  insurance  companies, 
with  assets  reported,  December  31,  1874,  at  $191,683,513. 
These  companies  issued  59,261  policies  last  year,  for  the  sum 
of  $178,389,450,  and  had  outstanding  at  its  close  272,803  poli- 
cies, for  the  amount  of  $994, 1 5 1 ,829. 

In  these  figures  no  account  is  taken  of  the  large  business 
done  in  this  city  by  insurance  companies  of  other  States  hav- 
ing branch  offices  here. 

A  recapitulation  of  these  sums  gives  the  amount  of  capital 
emplo}'ed  in  banking  and  insurance  at  $692,501,627.  The 
recapitulation  is  as  follows  : 

Bank  capital  $85,166,100 

Deposits   165.918,700 

Savings  180,000,703 


1874,  at  $44,696,827. 


Total  

Insurance—  Marine 
Fire  . . 
Life  . . 


$431,085,503 


$25,035,785 
,  44,696,827 
I9i>683,5i3 


261,416, 125 


Total 


$692,501,627 


The  commerce  of  the  city  was  under  the  watchful  care  of 
two  important  societies  during  the  colonial  period.  The 


44 


COMMERCIAL  LIKE 


Chamber  of  Commerce  was  founded  tlie  3d  of  May,  1 768  ; 
chartered  I3t]i  of  March,  1770,  and  revived  I3tli  of  Ai)rll, 
1784,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  confirming  its  charter.  This 
institution  established  the  rates  of  commission,  settled  the 
usages  c^f  trade,  fixed  the  value  of  coins,  and  otherwise  super- 
vised the  mercantile  interest.  The  other  commercial  society 
was  the  Marine  Society,  chartered  April  12,  1770,  and 
rechartered  by  the  State  Legislature  in  May,  1786.  The 
business  of  this  corporation  was  the  improving  of  maritime 
knowledge  and  the  relief  of  indigent  and  distressed  masters 
of  vessels  and  of  their  children." 

No  sooner  was  the  treaty  of  peace  signed  than  the  great 
Continental  powers  hastened  to  stretch  forth  a  hand  of  wel- 
come to  the  infant  Republic,  and  ambassadors  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  seat  of  government.  France,  the  Netherlands, 
and  Spain  were  all  represented  by  first-class  Ministers  as 
early  as  1785.  As  was  remarked  at  the  time,  "  every  nation 
in  luirope  solicited  to  partake  of  her  trade."  Great  Britain 
alone,  chafing  under  her  defeat,  remained  for  a  long  period 
sullen,  and  endeavored  by  navigation  acts  and  other  adverse 
legislation  to  cripple  the  commerce  of  the  States.  The  West 
India  trade,  the  most  profitable  in  which  New  York  was 
engaged,  was  prohibited  in  American  vessels,  and  all  inter- 
course forbidden,  except  in  British  bottoms,  the  property  of 
and  navigated  by  British  subjects.  She  only  consented  to  a 
treaty  of  amity  and  the  sending  of  an  ambassador  in  1791,  and 
only  then  because  of  the  fear  of  a  closer  alliance  of  America 
with  the  French  Republic.  Nor  was  this  the  only  obstacle  to 
the  development  of  the  trade  of  New  York. 

On  the  3d  of  February,  1781,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  had  passed  an  act  recommending  to  the  several  States 
as  indispensably  necessary  that  they  vest  a  power  in  Congress 
to  levy  for  the  use  of  the  United  States  a  duty  of  five  per 
cent,  ad  valorem,  at  the  time  and  place  of  importation,  upon 
all  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  of  foreign  grow^th  and 
manufacture,  to  take  general  effect  when  the  States  should 
consent.  On  the  19th  of  March  of  the  same  year  (1781)  the 
Legislature  of  New  York  passed  the  required  act,  suspending 


COMMERCIAL  LIFE. 


45 


its  operation  until  all  the  States  not  prevented  by  war  should 
vest  similar  powers  in  Congress.  Here,  again,  as  in  the  act 
authorizing  the  legal  tender  of  Continental  bills  as  money  in 
this  State,  New  York  had  without  delay  waived  its  settled 
opinion  and  undoubted  interest  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole. 
On  the  15th  of  March,  1783,  the  Legislature,  after  reciting 
in  a  preamble  that  several  Legislatures  of  other  States  have 
passed  laws  '*  dissimilar  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the 
act  of  1 78 1,"  repealed  the  same,  and  passed  a  new  act  granting 
to  Congress  a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding act,  but  ordered  the  duties  to  be  levied  and  collected 
by  officers  under  the  authority  of  the  State.  To  the  provi- 
sions of  this  act  the  merchants  of  New  York  took  exception, 
and  on  the  motion  of  Isaac  Moses,  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  respectable  of  the  Jewish  merchants  of  the  city,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  memorialized  the  Legislature  to  aban- 
don the  vicious  system  of  ad  valorem  duties,  which  opened 
every  man's  invoices  and  trade  to  the  inspection  of  his  neigh- 
bors, and  adopt  in  lieu  a  specific  tariff.  The  Legislature 
listened  to  this  petition,  and  on  the  i8th  of  November,  1784, 
passed  an  act  levying  specific  duties,  and  established  a  custom- 
house the  same  day.  The  veteran  Col.  Lamb  was  appointed 
the  first  Collector  of  the  Port.  When  the  State  adopted  the 
Federal  Constitution  in  1789,  it  was  compelled  to  surrender 
its  preference  for  specific  duties,  among  other  and  valuable 
privileges.  From  that  day  to  this  each  succeeding  generation 
of  merchants  has  urged  upon  Congress  the  importance  of 
a  change  to  the  specific  sj'stem. 

Almost  immediately  upon  the  return  of  the  merchants  ex- 
iled by  the  war,  new  avenues  were  sought  by  them  for  the 
extension  of  commerce.  In  the  fall  of  1783  a  ship  was  pur- 
chased by  some  of  the  most  enterprising,  in  association  with 
their  neighbors  of  Philadelphia,  and  dispatched  to  China  laden 
chiefly  with  ginseng  for  exchange  for  tea  and  Chinese  manu- 
factures. This  ship — the  Empress  of  China,  Capt.  John 
Green — sailed  on  the  22d  of  February,  1784  (Washington's 
birthday),  having  on  board,  as  supercargo.  Major  Samuel 
Shaw  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  later  the  first  American 


46 


DKPRKDATIONS  OF  THH  ALCIFRIXES. 


Consul  at  Canton.  This  was  the  first  American  venture  in 
those  distant  seas.  She  reached  the  city  (New  York)  on  the 
1 2th  of  Ma}',  1785,  after  a  voya^^e  of  14  months  and  20  days. 
This  venture  was  one-half  for  tlie  account  of  Robert  Morris 
of  Philadelphia,  and  the  net  profit  was  $30,727 — over  20  per 
cent,  on  $120,000,  the  capital  employed.  Other  vessels  fol- 
lowed, and  as  early  as  1789  the  United  States  had  15  vessels, 
against  the  21  ships  of  the  East  India  Company,  in  the  China 
seas  ;  and  in  the  six  years,  from  1802  to  1808,  of  ;^i2,83i,099 
in  value  of  bullion  imported  into  India,  ;^4, 543,662  was  from 
the  United  States,  and  of  £22,^^0,6^2,  the  value  of  goods 
exported  from  India,  ;^4,8o3,283  was  to  the  United  States. 
The  Empress  of  China  carried  the  original  flag  of  the  United 
States,  adopted  in  1777  as  the  national  flag,  thirteen 
stripes,  alternate  red  and  white,  and  a  union  of  thirteen  stars, j 
white,  on  a  blue  field,  representing  a  new  constellation." 
This  flag,  first  shown  in  the  Pacific  at  the  masthead  of  a  New 
York  vessel  in  1784,  was  taken  round  the  world  by  the 
Columbia  in  1 789-1 790,  and  by  the  Franklin  of  Salem  to 
Japan  in  1799.  The  French  Government  was  quick  to 
stimulate  the  commerce  of  the  American  States,  from  whose 
enterprise  it  anticipated  a  counterpoise  to  the  maritime  power 
of  Great  Britain.  In  August,  1784,  the  French  Consul-General 
at  New  York  communicated  to  the  merchants  an  invitation  of 
the  King  "to  avail  of  the  French  ports  of  the  Isles  of  France 
and  Bourbon  in  their  voyages  to  and  from  the  East  Indies," 
where  they  were  promised  "every  protection  and  every 
liberty  they  might  wish  for  or  stand  in  need  of"  To  show 
the  importance  of  the  trade  which  sprung  from  these  small 
beginnings,  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  amount  of  the 
total  Asian  trade  of  the  city  of  New  York,  which,  in  the 
year  closed  June  30,  1874,  reached  the  sum  of  $36,099,362, 
of  which  the  imports  amounted  to  $31,275,679,  and  the 
exports  hence,  $4,823,683. 

In  its  inception  the  young  marine  had  other  difficulties  to 
contend  with  than  the  simple  unfriendliness  of  Great  Britain. 
One  of  the  greatest  was  the  terror  spread  over  the  colonies 
by  the  report  in  February,  1785,  of  the  capture  of  an  Ameri- 


UXFRIEXDLIXESS  OF  FOREIGN  POWERS. 


47 


can  vessel  by  the  Barbary  pirates,  who  then  infested  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  and  even  ventured  in  pursuit  of  their 
prey  into  the  open  ocean.  It  is  almost  impossible  for  us  at 
this  day  to  comprehend  the  policy  which  influenced  such  a 
naval  power  as  Great  Britain  to  consent  to  the  ignominy  of 
paying  tribute  to,  and  taking  papers  of  safe-conduct  from,  this 
petty  but  audacious  power.  Probably  no  better  explanation 
can  be  given  than  that  she  considered  it  for  her  interest  to 
have  a  dangerous  sea  between  the  near  towns  of  France  and 
the  African  coast  as  a  shield  to  her  Indian  possessions,  the 
highway  to  which  lay  through  the  Mediterranean.  Certain 
it  is  that  at  a  later  day  her  agents  negotiated  a  treaty  between 
the  Barbary  States  and  Portugal,  then  wholly  under  her  in- 
fluence, in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  Portugal  should  fur- 
nish no  protection  to  any  nation  against  Algerine  cruisers. 
This  treaty,  kept  secret  both  by  the  contracting  powers  and 
Great  Britain,  in  1793  opened  the  gateway  of  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Moors,  and  ten  American  vessels  fell  unsuspecting  victims 
into  their  hands.  The  United  States,  like  the  European 
powers,  finally  consented  to  pay  the  required  tribute  ;  but  the 
disgrace  at  last  awakened  the  pride  of  the  States,  a  navy  was 
created,  and  in  181 5  Commodore  Decatur  met  and  defeated 
the  Algerine  squadron,  sailed  into  the  Bay  of  Algiers,  and 
forced  the  Dey  at  the  mouth  of  his  guns  to  surrender  all 
American  prisoners  and  all  claims  to  tribute,  an  example 
soon  followed  by  the  great  powers. 

The  French,  though  never  openly  hostile,  were  never 
wholly  friendly.  The  French  people,  who  had  declared  the 
"  rights  of  man  "  on  the  Champs  de  Mars,  and  asserted  their 
own  freedom  in  1789,  were  dissatisfied  with  the  neutrality  of 
the  United  States,  which  they  looked  upon  as  signal  ingrati- 
tude. The  Imperial  Government  in  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees,  by  which  it  attempted  to  enforce  a  Continental  land 
blockade  against  British  trade,  was  as  indifferent  to  American 
rights  as  Great  Britain  herself  in  her  Orders  in  Council,  and  the 
adventurous  tradingr  vessels  of  the  States  had  to  run  a  double 
gauntlet.  It  was  not  till  after  the  peace  of  181 5,  and  when 
the  gallantry  of  its  youthful  navy,  led  by  Hull,  Perry,  Preble, 


I 


48         INCRKASEl)    C  UMMlMCA'l  U)N    \Vi  riI  EUROPE. 


Bainbridj;c,  Decatur,  and  Lawrence,  had  shown  that  it  was  as 
dan^^crous  an  cncni}'  in  war  as  a  vahiable  friend  in  peace, 
that  the  )'oung  nation  found  a  fair  and  unimpeded  field  for  its 
marx'ellous  activity.  Of  the  rapidity  of  its  movement  at  this 
period,  the  Customs  revenue  collected  by  the  United  States 
Government  is  a  striking  example.  From  $4,415,362  in  icSi4, 
it  rose  in  181 5  to  $37,695,625,  of  which  $16,000,000  was 
taken  at  the  port  of  New  York  alone.  In  the  fiscal  year 
ended  June  30,  1875,  the  total  amount  of  Customs  revenue 
for  all  the  United  States  was  $157,167,722,  of  which  $109,- 
207,786  was  taken  at  the  port  of  New  York. 

The  communications  with  Europe  were  now  lar^i^ely  in- 
creased. In  1774  there  were  only  five  packet-boats,  belonging 
to  the  royal  service  and  carrying  the  mails,  stationed  between 
Falmouth  and  New  York,  of  which  one  left  each  port  the  first 
Wednesday  in  every  month.  They  were  the  Earl  of  Halifax, 
the  Harriott,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  Lord  Hyde,  and 
the  Mercury.  Besides  these,  there  were  numerous  excellent 
vessels  in  the  merchant  service.  An  instance  of  the  speed 
of  these  vessels  is  to  be  found  in  the  voyage  of  the  Samson, 
Captain  Henry  Coupar,  which  brought  out  the  act  known  as 
the  Boston  Port  bill.  This  fast  ship  left  London  the  lOth 
of  April,  1774,  Land's  End  the  14th,  and  arrived  at  New 
York  on  the  12th  of  May,  making  the  passage  in  27 
days.  The  journals  record  that  this  vessel  brought  an  ac- 
count of  the  receipt  of  bills  (of  exchange)  sent  from  New 
York  to  London  in  one  month  and  29  days,  which  was 
in  less  time  than  perhaps  was  ever  known  before,  consid- 
ering the  distance.  The  French  Government  was  early 
in  establishing  regular  packet  communication  with  the  young 
nation.  In  the  fall  of  1783,  on  the  19th  of  November, 
before  the  evacuation  of  the  city,  the  Courrier  de  I'Europe, 
Capt.  Cornic  de  Moulin,  arrived  from  the  port  of  I'Orient, 
and  notice  was  at  once  given  of  the  establishment  of  a 
line  of  five  first-class  ships  —  le  Courrier  de  I'Europe,  le 
Courrier  de  I'Amerique,  le  Courrier  de  New  York  Ic  Courrier 
de  rOrient,  and  I'Allegator — to  make  monthly  trips.  The 
hne  was  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Hector  St.  John,  the 


OCEAN  STEAM  COMMUXICATIOX. 


49 


Consul-General  of  France  for  Connecticut,  New  York,  and 
New  Jersey,  and  the  immediate  supervision  of  ]\Ir.  William 
Seton  as  deputy  agent.  The  "  noble  cabin  "  of  I'Orient  was 
advertised  as  capable  of  accommodating  forty  persons  at 
table.  The  price  of  passage  was  fixed  at  500  livres  at  the 
captain's  tables,  and  200  livres  for  those  who  chose  to  take 
ship's  rations,  and  120  livres  the  ton  of  2,000  pounds  weight, 
or  forty-two  cubical  feet.  This  vessel  sailed  on  her  return 
Dec.  19,  1783,  and  took  out  a  number  of  passengers, 
among  whom,  strange  to  say,  were  several  officers  of  the 
British  army.  In  the  commencement  of  this  enterprise  the 
public  were  informed  that  the  French  packet  was  an  immedi- 
ate channel  of  conveyance  for  letters  from  and  to  all  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe,  the  General  Post-Office  at  Paris 
having  a  daily  intercourse  with  all  the  capitals. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  regular  communication.  In 
1816,  the  famous  Black  Ball  line  to  Liverpool  was  established, 
a  few  years  later  the  Swallow  Tail  line  to  London,  and  in  1824 
the  Havre  line.  In  1827,  the  Liverpool  line  employed  twenty 
ships,  the  London  line  eight,  and  the  Havre  line  twelve,  be- 
sides which  there  were  weekly  lines  to  Savannah,  Charleston, 
Mobile,  and  New  Orleans.  The  average  passages  outward 
of  the  Black  Ball  line  were  made  in  twenty-two  days,  and  the 
home  voyage  in  twenty-nine  days.  But  steam  was  soon  to 
change  the  entire  mode  of  ocean  navigation  as  well  as  of  land 
travel ;  and  to  such  an  extent  that  to-day,  of  all  the  passen- 
ger fleet  the  only  line  which  continues  its  regular  passages  is 
the  old  Swallow  Tail  line. 

As  far  back  as  1790  John  Fitch  had  solved  the  problem  of 
the  application  of  steam  to  vessels,  and  is  said  to  have  made 
experiments  on  the  Collect  Pond  in  this  city,  in  which  he  used 
the  screw  as  well  as  the  paddle,  and  within  a  short  period 
from  that  date  practically  carried  passengers  on  the  Schuylkill 
at  Philadelphia.  In  March,  18 19,  the  steamship  Savannah 
sailed  from  New  York  for  Savannah,  and  leaving  that  port  on 
the  25th  of  May,  made  the  first  ocean  passage,  arriving  in 
Liverpool  the  20th  of  June.  On  the  7th  of  April  of  the  same 
year,  the  Legislature  of  New  York  incorporated  an  Ocean 


50 


INCREASE  OF  NAVIGATION. 


Stcam-sllip  Company  ;"  but  it  was  not  until  1838  that  the 
arri\'al  of  the  Sirius  and  Great  Western  opened  ocean  steam 
navifjation.  The  Bremen  hne  was  the  pioneer  of  the  Ameri- 
can steam  lines.  In  1850  the  "  Atlantic"  began  the  career 
of  the  Collins  line,  which  was  for  a  long  period  the  pride  of 
the  nation  as  well  as  of  New  York,  but  at  last  succumbed 
after  a  series  of  misfortunes  and  disasters.  The  history  of 
our  once  splendid  steam  marine  is  but  an  episode  in  the  pro- 
gress of  New  York  commerce.  Of  all  the  large  fleet  of 
steamers  only  one  now  carries  the  flag  of  the  United  States 
across  the  Atlantic.  Yet  the  exhibit  of  its  commerce  is  none 
the  less  wondrous  for  this  absence. 

In  the  year  1770,  the  ships  which  entered  the  harbor  of 
New  York  were  196  in  number,  the  sloops  431 — a  total  of 
627  sail.  In  the  year  1828,  the  arrivals  of  v^essels  at  New 
York  were  1,400  from  foreign  ports  and  4,000  coasting 
vessels.  In  the  year  ended  June  30,  1874,  the  number  of 
entrances  at  the  port  of  New  York  of  American  and  foreign, 
ocean,  steam  and  sail,  was  6,723 — 5,044,618  tons,  and  handled 
by  crews  numbering  148,246  men.  Of  these  vessels,  4,290 
were  foreign  and  2,433  American.  In  this  number  are  in- 
cluded 1,108  steamers;  877  foreign  and  231  American.  Of 
the  American  steam-vessels,  every  one,  with  one  single  ex- 
ception, was  from  the  coast,  the  West  Indies,  or  South 
America,  the  ocean  trade  having  been  wholl}'  abandoned  to 
foreigners.  The  registered  tonnage  of  the  customs  district 
of  New  York  was,  at  the  same  date,  6,630  vessels  of  1,318,- 
523  tons;  2,810  sailing  vessels  of  600,020  tons;  788  steam 
vessels,  351,686  tons;  546  barges,  123,535  tons;  and  2,486 
canal  boats,  243,281  tons.  The  coastwise  trade  engaged 
2,742  vessels,  1,774,181  tons,  of  which  there  were  i  ,583  steam 
vessels,  1,517,481  tons,  and  1,159  sailing  vessels,  256,700 
tons. 

The  internal  trade  has  progressed  with  equal  rapidity. 
The  project  of  a  canal  connecting  the  great  lakes  of  the  inte- 
rior with  tide  water  was  the  first  thought  of  the  city  after  the 
peace.  In  1785  Christopher  Colles,  an  ingenious  mechanician, 
memorialized  the  Legislature  of  New  York  for  the  establish- 


INTERNAL  TRADE. 


ment  of  a  canal  to  connect  the  Mohawk  with  the  Hudson, 
and  in  1792  a  company  was  chartered,  which  in  five  years 
opened  the  passage  from  Schenectady  to  Oneida,  and  in- 
tended to  continue  it  to  Lake  Ontario,  for  which  extension 
the  route  had  been  surveyed  in  1791  ;  but  it  was  not  till  1 810 
that  the  canal  policy  found  its  great  advocate  in  De  Witt 
Clinton.  His  memorial  in  181 5  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the 
movement.  Through  his  commanding  influence,  the  act 
establishing  the  Erie  Canal  was  passed  in  18 17,  and  the  grand 
enterprise  completed.  On  October  26,  1826,  the  sound  of 
cannon  commenced  at  Buffalo,  and,  repeated  fro.m  city  to 
town  and  town  to  city,  announced  to  New  York  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  final  union  of  the  lakes  with 
the  Atlantic,  the  presage  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  city 
as  the  great  gateway  of  the  western  hemisphere.  The  arri\  al 
of  the  first  canal  boat  on  the  nth  November  following,  was 
the  occasion  of  a  grand  aquatic  and  civic  pageant,  in  which 
the  commingling  of  the  waters  was  typically  illustrated  by  the 
pouring  by  Gov.  Clinton,  the  Father  of  the  Canal,"  of  a 
keg  of  fresh  water  of  Lake  Erie  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  at 
the  Narrows.  The  measure  of  this  grand  improvement  may 
be  judged  from  the  amount  of  produce  now  brought  to  mar- 
ket. In  1874  the  transportation  of  produce  from  the  interior 
of  this  State  and  the  Western  States  by  canal  boats  amounted 
to  3,323,112  tons,  and  the  returns  of  supplies  of  various  kinds 
to  753,981  tons.  An  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  produce 
brought  into  this  city  by  the  canals  and  railroads  may  be 
made  from  an  examination. of  the  exports  from  New  York  in 
the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1874,  in  which  breadstuffs 
figure  to  the  value  of  $91,332,669,  and  provisions  to  the 
value  of  $40,193,947,  in  all  $131,000,000,  without  estimate  of 
the  amounts  retained  for  consumption  or  traffic  with  other 
States.  The  other  principal  exports  of  American  product 
from  this  port  were  cotton  to  the  amount  of  $41,499,597; 
lard  and  tallow,  $20,319,514;  tobacco,  $16,117,749;  illumi- 
nating oils,  $23,121,059.  A  summary  of  the  total  foreign 
trade  for  the  same  year  (ended  June  30,  1874)  shows  that  of 
the  total  imports  by  the  United  States,  of  $595,861,248  in 
4 


52 


IMMIGRATIOX, 


value,  New  York  imported  $395,133,622;  and  of  the  total 
exports  of  the  United  States,  $704,463,120,  $340,360,260 
were  by  New  York  ;  and  of  a  total  aggregate  of  foreign 
trade,  inward  and  outward,  by  the  whole  country  of  $1,300, - 
324,368,  New  York  had  $735,493,882,  or  nearly  60  per  cent. 
It  niay  not  be  without  interest  to  present  a  summary  of  the 
trade  of  New  York  in  geographical  divisions.  Its  total  trade 
(in  the  year  ended  June  30,  1874)  with  foreign  American 
ports,  Canada,  South  and  Central  America,  and  the  West 
Indies,  amounted  to  $163,523,775.  Its  total  European  trade, 
$533,711,992.  Its  total  Asian  trade,  $36,099,362,  and  its 
total  African  trade  to  $2,158,753. 

In  its  imports  sugar  and  molasses  figured  to  the  amount  of 
$52,360,176;  coffee,  $33,485,559;  tea,  $15,024,794. 

Soon  after  the  peace,  a  German  society  was  established 
under  the  direction  of  Cols.  Lutterloh  and  Weissenfels,  as 
President  and  Vice-President  (both  of  whom  had  been  dis- 
tinguished in  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  latter  as  one  of  the 
expedition  under  Gen.  Montgomery  to  Canada),  for  the  pur- 
pose of  encouraging  emigration  to  the  State  of  New  York, 
"so  that  the  western  part  thereof  maybe  settled  by  those 
useful  members;  witness  the  State  of  Pennsylvania."  So 
runs  the  card  of  A  Friend  to  Cultivation,"  in  The  New  York 
Packet  of  October  14,  1784  ;  but  no  considerable  movement 
took  place  for  a  long  period.  In  1824  the  total  number  of 
emigrants  to  all  the  United  States  was  7,912.  The  improve- 
ment in  comfort  and  diminished  risk  of  the  ocean  traverse 
gradually  induced  a  larger  movement ;  but  the  great  impulse 
to  the  exodus,  which  in  the  last  half  century  has  reached 
nearly  ten  millions  of  people,  was  given  by  the  Irish  famine  of 
1844.  The  highest  rate  of  emigration  was  reached  in  1872, 
\vhen  449,042  persons  were  landed;  of  these,  294,581  at  the 
port  of  New  York.  Since  that  year  there  has  been  a  gradual 
decline  in  the  number  ;  in  1873  it  fell  to  266,449,  1874  to 
149,762,  of  which  41,368  were  from  Germany,  41,179  from 
Ireland,  19,822  from  England,  and  7,723  Mennonites — a 
religious  sect  from  Russia.  In  1875  the  number  landed  at 
this  port  dropped  to  84,544.    This  decline  may  be  ascribed 


/ 


MANUFACTURES 


—PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


53 


chiefly  to  the  long-continued  financial  and  business  depres- 
sion throughout  the  country.  The  movement  will  certainly 
be  resumed  upon  a  revival  of  trade  and  renewal  of  prosperity. 
This  emigration  has  been  a  large  and  profitable  branch  of 
the  carrying  trade,  now  in  great  distress  in  consequence  of  its 
decline. 

It  has  been  observed  that  New  York  has  never  claimed 
any  preeminence  as  a  manufacturing  city,  yet  as  a  great  in- 
dustrial centre  it  ranks  next  to  Philadelphia.  The  United 
States  Census  of  1870  showed  that  there  were  then  7,624  es- 
tablishments, with  1,261  steam-engines  and  sixteen  water- 
wheels,  employing  129,577  hands,  at  an  annual  outlay  in 
wages  of  $63,824,262,  and  a  capital  of  129,952,262.  The  raw 
materials  used  were  valued  at  $178,696,939,  and  the  annual 
product  at  $332,951,520.  In  addition  to  these,  the  ship- 
building in  the  year  ended  30th  of  June,  1874,  comprised  89 
sailing  and  60  steam  vessels,  196  canal  boats,  and  51  barges, 
a  total  of  396  vessels,  64,001  tons.  It  is  a  fact  too  often  for- 
gotten, but  of  which  the  increase  of  the  great  landed  prop- 
erty to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  by  accumulation  alone 
without  original  enterprise,  since  the  death  of  its  founder  in 
1848,  is  indisputable  evidence,  that  no  ship  arrives,  no  emi- 
grant lands,  no  railroad  or  canal  brings  its  freight  to  this  city, 
that  does  not  pay  some  toll  and  add  some  value  to  its  real 
estate. 

Let  us  now  pass  from  the  review  of  the  commercial  and 
industrial  progress  of  New  York  to  an  examination  of  its 
advance  in  social  improvement.  Before  the  Revolution 
popular  education  was  limited,  and  chiefly  dependent  on  the 
aid  of  churches.  Indeed,  until  this  century  the  education  of 
the  lower  classes  was  regarded  rather  as  a  favor  than  a  right. 
Universal  suffraije  has  set  forever  at  rest  this  fallacy  in  the 
United  States,  and  if  it  have  no  other  advantage,  it  has  at 
least  the  indisputable  merit  that  it  compels  capital  to  educate 
labor.    William  Smith,  the  historian,  writing  in  1756,  says  : 

Our  schools  are  of  the  lowest  order;  the  instructors  want 
instruction  ;  and  through  a  long  shameful  neglect  of  the  arts 
and  sciences  our  common  speech  is  extremely  corrupt." 


54 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  COLLEGES. 


Noah  Webster  speaks  of  the  schools  in  1788  as  no  longer 
in  the  deplorable  condition  they  were  formerly,  and  many  of 
them  as  kept  by  reputable  and  able  men."  But  all  these 
remarks  apply  to  private  schools.  The  first  action  toward 
general  education  was  in  1791,  when  the  Legislature  appro- 
priated the  sum  of  $50,000  for  five  years  for  elementary 
and  practical  instruction  in  this  State.  To-day  the  public 
instruction  of  the  city  is  under  the  charge  of  a  l^oard  of 
Education,  who  reported  the  number  of  schools  within  its 
jurisdiction,  December  31,  1874,  as  287,  held  in  121  build- 
ings, engaging  3,215  teachers,  of  whom  over  3,000  are 
females,  and  giving  instruction  to  251,545  scholars.  The 
system  is  maintained  at  an  annual  cost  of  $3,475,313.  New 
York  may  safely  challenge  rivalry  on  the  part  of  any  com- 
munity, American  or  foreign,  with  this  magnificent  showing 
of  her  system  of  public  education,  which  includes  for  the 
higher  branches  a  Free  Academy,  a  Normal  College  for  the 
education  of  teachers,  a  Nautical  school,  and  a  school  for  the 
compulsory  instruction  of  delinquents. 

The  institutions  for  instruction  in  letters,  science,  law, 
medicine,  and  art  must  be  passed  by  in  silence  ;  enumeration 
even  would  be  tedious.     Columbia  College,  the  University 
of  the  City  of  New^  York,  and  the  Rutgers  Female  College 
are  the  principal.    Besides  these,  each  religious  denomina- 
tion has  its  own  school  system.    The  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  heads  the  list  of  medical  colleges,  the  Law 
School  that  of  law — both  adjuncts  of  Columbia  College";  but 
every  branch  of  instruction  has  its  special  institution.  Re- 
viewing the  whole,  there  are  found  3,365  instructors,  277,310 
students,  and  an  annual  expenditure  of  $3,808,381.  In 
addition  to  these,  all  institutions  incorporated  by  the  State 
or  making  a  report  to  the  authorities  of  the  State,  there  are 
numerous  schools  for  instruction  of  both  sexes  in  the  higher 
departments  of  knowledge,  some  of  which  are  as  extensive 
as  the  colleges.    Of  these,  the  most  famous  is  the  Cooper 
Institute,  the  munificent  donation  of  Peter  Cooper  for  the 
education  of  the  working  classes — a  model  institution,  which 
includes  free  tuition  in  engineering  and  the  arts  of  design 
and  modelling. 


THE  NEWSPAPERS. 


55 


The  earliest  organized  library  in  the  city  of  New  York  was 
the  City  Library,  founded  in  1729.  Its  rooms  were  in  the 
City  Hall,  where  the  Society  Library,  organized  in  i754  and 
chartered  in  1772,  was  also  kept.  Both  of  these  libraries,  as 
also  that  of  King's  College,  were  sacked  by  the  British  and 
Hessian  troops  during  the  war.  In  1784  (February  12)  Mr. 
Samuel  Bard,  by  order  of  the  trustees,  made  a  public  request 
in  The  New  York  Packet  for  the  return  of  such  volumes  as 
belonged  to  the  Society  Library.  To-day  there  are  23  libraries 
of  circulation  and  reference,  of  which  the  Astor  is  the  most 
valuable,  containing  150,000  volumes.  This  is  a  free  library, 
under  certain  reasonable  restrictions.  Another,  which  prom- 
ises to  be  of  great  if  not  equal  value,  is  that  projected  by 
James  Lenox.  The  beautiful  structure  erected  for  its  recep- 
tion is  one  of  the  principal  ornaments  of  the  city.  The  Mer- 
cantile Library  follows  with  158,034,  and  the  New  York 
Society  Library  is  next  in  order.  The  New  York  Historical  • 
Society  Library,  in  the  rooms  of  which  we  are  now  gathered, 
has  a  valuable  collection  of  manuscripts,  public  and  private 
documents,  bound  newspapers  to  the  number  of  2,319,  his- 
torical works  exceeding  60,000,  and  includes  a  fine  museum, 
with  the  famous  Abbot  collection  of  Egyptian  antiquities  and 
the  Lenox  Nineveh  collection.  The  Metropolitan  Museum 
of  Art,  yet  in  its  infancy,  has  already  brought  together  a 
remarkable  variety  of  curiosities,  among  which  is  the  Cesnola 
collection  of  Etruscan  antiquities,  and  the  society  is  erecting 
a  large  building  in  Central  Park. 

The  first  newspaper  in  New  York  was  The  New  York 
Gazette,  established  by  William  Bradford  in  1725.  During 
the  war  the  only  journals  were  Hugh  Gaines's  New  York 
Mercury,  Rivington's  Royal  Gazette,  and  Robertson's  Royal 
American  Gazetteer,  suspended  after  the  departure  of  the 
British.  In  1784  the  newspapers  were  The  New  York  Packet 
and  The  American  Advertiser,  published  by  Samuel  London  ; 
The  New  York  Gazetteer,  by  Shepard  Kollock  ;  and  The 
Independent  Gazette,  or  The  New  York  Journal,  revived  by 
John  and  Elizabeth  Holt ;  The  Independent  Journal  or  The 
General  Advertiser,  by  McLean  &  Webster.    To-day  New 


56 


CHARITIES. 


York  boasts  of  444  newspapers  and  periodicals,  of  u  liich  28 
are  daily  and  semi-v/eekly,  187  weekly,  22  semi-monthly,  180 
monthly,  3  bi-monthly,  and  16  quarterly  ;  32  are  in  foreign 
languages,  and  99  have  a  circulation  of  over  5, OCX)  copies. 
Of  the  10  principal  newspapers,  one  has  a  daily  circulation  of 
127,000  copies;  the  lowest,  printed  in  German,  of  30,000 
copies.  Of  the  illustrated  papers,  one  weekly  issues  100,000 
copies.  Of  the  newspapers  devoted  to  literature  and  stories, 
one  has  a  weekly  circulation  of  300,000,  and  another  of 
180,000.  One  of  the  religious  papers  issues  78,000  copies, 
and  one  of  the  monthly  magazines  130,000  copies.  The 
weight  of  newspapers  and  periodicals  mailed  by  publishers  at 
the  City  Post-office  to  regular  subscribers  for  the  first  three 
quarters  of  1874,  Jan.  i  to  Sept.  30,  was  17,392,691  pounds, 
the  postage  prepaid  on  which  amounted  to  $249,952.17. 

The  charities  of  New  York  are  conducted  on  an  imperial 
scale.  Her  cosmopolitan  munificence  is  proverbial.  To  her 
the  eyes  of  suffering  communities,  cities,  nations,  are  first 
turned,  and  never  in  vain.  Ireland  in  its  famine,  France  in 
its  floods  and  desolation,  England  in  the  suffering  of  its 
manufacturing  districts,  Portland,  Chicago,  Boston,  scourged 
by  fire,  have  all  found  ready  and  abundant  aid  in  their  day 
of  trial,  and  at  home  her  charity  is  no  less  bountiful.  The 
public  prisons,  hospitals,  asylums,  almshouses,  and  nurseries 
are  27  in  number.  The  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and 
Correction  made  an  expenditure  last  year  of  $1 ,54^ >685. 50  ; 
the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  gave  relief  to  5i.^7^  P^i*" 
sons,  at  an  expense  of  $466,108.22.  Besides  these  great 
public  charities  there  are  endless  private  associations.  That 
for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor  gave  relief  in  1874 
to  24,091  families.  There  are  also  27  hospitals  in  the  city,  of 
which  15  have  large  and  commodious  buildings.  St.  Luke's, 
the  Roosevelt,  and  Mount  Sinai  are  prominent  examples. 
There  are  seven  dispensaries,  chief  among  which  is  the  New 
York  Dispensary,  established  in  1790,  which  supplies  an  ave- 
rage of  40,000  patients  annually.  There  are  two  institutions 
for  the  deaf  and  dumb  ;  three  for  the  blind.  There  are  in 
addition  26  religious,  educational,  and  charitable  Roman 


CLUBS — ' 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CITY. 


57 


Catholic  organizations,  51  benevolent  societies,  50  trades- 
unions,  and  about  50  other  charitable  institutions,  reforma- 
tory and  educational.  The  organized  local  charitable  socie- 
ties receive  and  disburse  about  $2,500,000  annually.  The 
Department  of  Buildings  reports  66  hospitals  and  asylums, 
1st  January,  1876.  Where  is  the  community  which  con- 
tributes so  much  of  its  wealth  to  the  improvement  and 
support  of  the  ignorant  and  indigent  of  its  members  ? 

Clubs  have  grown  to  be  a  marked  feature  of  city  life. 
Those  of  New  York,  including  literary  and  sporting  associa- 
tions, number  40.  Of  these  the  most  celebrated  is  the  Union, 
with  a  handsome  and  costly  building,  and  a  full  membership 
of  1,000  members  ;  the  Union  League  Club,  an  offspring  of 
loyalty  during  the  late  civil  war  ;  the  New  York,  Knicker- 
bocker, Travellers',  the  Century,  (home  of  Art  and  Litera- 
ture,) the  Lotos,  and  the  German  Club,  all  provided  with 
refreshment  rooms  and  restaurants,  and  largely  attended. 

The  limits  of  the  city  in  1783  have  been  described  as  con- 
tained within  the  irregular  triangle  formed  by  the  North  and 
East  rivers  and  a  line  drawn  across  the  island  at  Reade 
street.  To-day  they  include  the  whole  of  Manhattan  Island, 
131^  miles  in  length,  and  averaging  miles  in  width,  an 
area  of  22  square  miles,  or  14,000  acres  ;  and  the  recent  an- 
nexation from  the  mainland  of  part  of  Westchester  County, 
before  known  as  the  towns  of  Morrisania,  West  Farms,  and 
Kingsbridge,  gives  an  additional  area  of  about  13,000  acres. 
In  addition  there  are  the  islands  of  Blackwell,  Ward,  Ran- 
dall, Bedloe,  Ellis,  and  Governor,  of  which  the  last  three 
named  have  been  ceded  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  for  Federal  purposes  ;  the  other  islands  have  been  set 
aside  for  correctional,  reformatory,  and  charitable  purposes. 
Of  the  27,000  acres  comprising  the  city  proper,  1,007  acres, 
or  8,712,000  yards,  are  devoted  to  public  parks.  The  Cen- 
tral Park  needs  no  mention.  There  is  no  park  to  be  found 
in  any  European  city  at  all  comparable  to  it.  It  only  re- 
quires an  extension  of  narrow  wings  to  the  river  sides  near 
by  to  combine  all  possible  beauties  of  location  and  scenery. 
Of  the  other  parks,  the  Battery,  Bowling  Green,  and  City 


58 


GKOWril  OF  TIIK  CITY 


Mall  Park  arc  of  the  last  century  ;  Tompkins,  Washington, 
Union,  Madison,  and  Reservoir-square,  and  at  the  northern 
end  of  the  island.  Mount  Morris,  High  Bridge,  and  Morning- 
side  parks,  complete  the  admirable  provision  of  breathing- 
places  for  the  fast-growing  population. 

The  little  town  which  in  1788  contained  in  its  seven  wards 
3,340  houses  with  23,614  inhabitants,  had  grown  in  1870  to  a 
colossal  city,  with  64,044  dwellings,  and  942,292  inhabitants. 
Of  these  419,094  were  foreign  born, — 234,594  British  and 
Irish,  and  151,216  Germans.  To  these  considerable  addi- 
tions must  be  made.  The  Department  of  Buildings  reports 
the  total  number  of  dwellings  at  84,200  ;  of  stores,  stables, 
markets,  etc.,  at  16,438  ;  of  public  buildings,  churches,  etc., 
at  524;  a  total  of  101,162  of  all  kinds,  ist  January,  1876. 
The  recent  State  census  of  1875  carries  the  total  number  of 
the  population,  including  that  of  the  two  wards  lately  an- 
nexed, to  1,046,037,  an  increase  of  419,707  since  1865.  But 
although  this  is  the  actual  number  of  persons  residing  within 
the  city  limits,  it  is  not  the  measure  of  its  real  population  : 
the  true  location  of  population  is  that  where  it  leads  its  wak- 
ing not  its  sleeping  life.  To  the  enumeration  made  should 
be  added  the  number  of  those  who  visit  the  city  daily,  or 
depend  upon  it  for  livelihood  and  support.  Those  added 
would  carry  the  population  of  the  city  and  suburbs  within  a 
radius  of  twenty-five  miles  from  the  City  Hall  to  more  than 
two  millions. 

The  low^er  part  of  the  city  is  quite  irregular  in  construction, 
but  from  Houston  street  to  the  northward  is  laid  out  upon  a 
regular  and  well-devised  plan,  essentially  that  made  by  the 
Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Legislature  in  1807  (Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  De  Witt  Clinton  and  others).  There  are  broad 
avenues  running  in  parallel  lines  to  the  end  of  the  island, 
traversed  laterally  by  parallel  streets,  all  of  which  are  desig- 
nated by  numbers.  To  this  recent  changes  have  added  ex- 
tensive boulevards  which  connect  with  the  Central  Park  and 
offer  long  and  pleasant  drives.  Broadway,  the  most  famous 
of  New  York,  and,  indeed,  of  American  avenues,  is  an  ex- 
ception to  the  general  rule  of  regularity  and  runs  across  five 


GREAT  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 


59 


of  the  parallel  avenues  in  a  north-westerly  direction.  This 
is  the  great  shopping  street,  and  is  lined  with  enormous 
retail  stores  and  hotels.  Fifth  avenue,  extending  northward 
from  Washington  square,  and  skirting  the  eastern  limit  of  the 
Central  Park,  is,  with  its  splendid  private  residences,  churches 
and  clubs,  one  unbroken  scries  of  architectural  display. 

The  public  buildings  are  numerous,  and  some  of  them  grand 
as  well  as  graceful.  For  massiveness,  the  Custom-house  in 
Wall  street,  originally  built  for  the  Merchants'  Exchange, 
and  the  new  Post-Office,  are  the  most  noted  :  for  grace  and 
beauty,  the  old  City  Hall,  and  the  Sub-Treasury  in  Wall 
street.  A  new  order  of  architecture  has  recently  sprung  up, 
of  which  the  Tribune  building  with  its  tall  tower,  and  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  building,  are  the  most  aspiring 
examples.  Structures  are  being  erected  all  over  the  city  ot 
great  size  and  costliness,  both  for  stores  and  as  private  resi- 
dences. The  fourteen  churches  in  which  the  little  city  wor- 
shipped in  1788,  have  expanded,  with  their  adjuncts  of  mission 
organizations,  into  470,  of  which  there  are  344  distinct  edifices, 
providing  seats  for  350,000  persons.  Connected  with  the 
Protestant  churches  are  356  Sabbath-schools,  which  give 
instruction  to  88,327  scholars.  Many  of  the  churches 
are  large  and  imposing.  Those  most  marked  for  their 
beauty  are  Trinity,  Grace,  St.  George's,  the  new  Fifth  Ave- 
nue Presbyterian,  the  Reformed  Collegiate,  and  the  Jewish 
Synagogue.  The  Roman  Catholics  are  erecting  a  cathedral 
in  the  Gothic  order,  with  all  the  emblems  of  the  new  cardi- 
nalate,  which  will  surpass  all  other  New  York  churches  in 
architectural  beauty  and  grandeur. 

The  Croton  Aqueduct  has  been  alluded  to.  The  supply  of 
water  is  drawn  from  the  Croton  River,  a  clear,  pure  stream 
of  remarkable  quality,  in  Westchester  County,  which  is  con- 
ducted to  the  city  through  a  covered  way  of  solid  masonry 
40^  miles  in  length.  It  has  a  capacity  of  60,000,000  gallons 
a  day.  It  crosses  the  Harlem  River  on  the  High  Bridge,  a 
granite  structure  1,450  feet  long,  21  feet  wide,  114  feet  high  ; 
is  received  in  two  great  basins  in  Central  Park,  and  distributed 
from  two  reservoirs  through  350  miles  of  pipes. 


6o 


LIGHT — MARKETS— TRAVEL. 


The  utility  of  gas  was  first  demonstrated  to  the  citizens  in 
1817,  and  in  1825  mains  were  laid  on  Broadway.  Fi\e  char- 
tered companies  now  supply  the  city.  Of  these  the  Manhat- 
tan has  two  works,  which  deliver  gas  through  about  170  miles 
of  street  mains  to  30,000  private  consumers  and  7,000  street 
lamps. 

The  markets  are  1 1  in  number,  but  with  hardly  an  exception 
arc  utterly  unworthy  of  a  great  city,  yet  the  enormous  busi- 
ness transacted  in  them  deserves  notice.  The  sales  of  food 
for  cash  were  reported  by  the  worthy  and  efficient  superin- 
tendent, who  lacks  neither  the  will,  energy,  nor  intelligence  to 
make  the  market  system  an  honor  instead  of  a  disgrace  to  the 
city,  as  amounting  to  $130,000,000  in  the  year  1874,  of  which 
Washington  Market  alone  received  $108,000,000.  In  the 
height  of  the  season  miles  of  country  wagons  from  Long 
Island,  Westchester  County,  and  the  Jerseys  line  the  streets 
leading  to  this  great  country  mart,  and  form  as  busy  a  scene, 
from  da}'light  until  late  in  the  forenoon,  as  can  well  be  imag- 
ined. Mr.  Devoe,  the  Superintendent,  is  authority  for  the 
statement  that  1,350,000  persons,  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages 
— 1,000,000  residents  and  350,000  daily  visitors — are  fed, 
every  business  day,  in  the  city.  The  Superintendent  of  Pub- 
lic Buildings  estimates  the  average  daily  number  of  guests  at 
the  hotels  at  200,000. 

In  1783,  and  for  many  years  after  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  travel  was  still  in  the  old-fashioned  primitive 
manner,  and  communication  from  State  to  State,  though  more 
frequent  than  before  the  Revolution,  did  not  greatly  differ  in 
kind  until  a  much  later  period.  The  first  land  route  to  Bos- 
ton was  opened  in  1732,  and  stages  ran  to  and  fro,  starting 
from  each  point  once  each  month,  and  made  the  single  trip 
in  fourteen  days.  In  1787  the  Boston  stages  set  out  from 
Hall's  Tavern  in  Cortlandt  street  (No.  49)  every  Monday  and 
Thursday  morning,  arriving  in  Boston  in  six  days.  In  the 
summer  months  a  third  trip  was  made  in  each  week  ;  the  fare 
four  cents  per  mile.  In  1827  a  stage  left  each  city  daily,  and 
reached  its  destination  in  thirty-six  hours.  To-day  the  Ex- 
press trains  on  the  railroads  make  an  easy  communication 


THE  RAILROAD  SYSTEM. 


6l 


within  eight  hours.  In  1785  the  first  stages  began  their  trips 
between  New  York  and  Albany,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river, 
with  four  horses,  at  the  rate  of  four  cents  per  mile.  In  1787 
two  stages  set  out  for  Philadelphia  every  evening  from  Powles 
Hook,  Jersey  City,  at  four  o'clock,  going  by  the  way  of 
Newark,  where  they  stopped  for  the  night,  and  reached 
Philadelphia  the  next  day.  Another  line  went  by  way  of 
Communipaw  (Bergen  Point),  stopped  at  Elizabethtown  at 
night,  and  arrived  at  Philadelphia  the  next  evening.  Besides 
these  a  stage-boat,  leaving  the  Albany  pier  twice  each  week, 
connected  with  a  stage  wagon  at  South  Amboy,  which  took 
passengers  to  Philadelphia  by  the  way  of  Burlington  ;  and  in 
addition  a  boat  left  Coenties  slip  every  Saturday,  if  the  wind 
was  fair,  reached  New  Brunswick  the  same  evening,  and  re- 
turned to  New  York  the  next  Tuesday.  To-day  the  trip  is 
made  by  railroad  in  three  hours. 

The  first  steamboat  on  the  Hudson  was  the  Clermont,  built 
by  Robert  Fulton  in  1807,  which  moved  at  the  rate  of  five 
miles  the  hour.  In  1828  the  arrivals  and  departures  of  steam- 
boats at  New  York  reached  6,400.  They  transported  320,000 
passengers.  To-day  the  fast  summer  boats  run  to  West  Point, 
fifty  miles  distant,  in  2^  hours,  a  rate  of  twenty  miles  the 
hour. 

Steam  was  first  practically  applied  to  railroads  in  the  year 
1830,  when  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson,  connecting  Albany 
with  Schenectady,  was  opened.  The  first  railroad  out  of  the 
city  of  New  York  was  the  Harlem,  completed  October,  1837. 
This  road  began  at  the  City  Hall,  and  in  1841  extended  to 
Fordham  in  Westchester  County.  There  are  now  (1875) 
three  great  railroads  having  their  terminus  at  the  Grand  Cen- 
tral Depot,  a  fine  and  convenient  structure  at  the  corner  of 
Forty-second  street  and  the  upper  end  of  Fourth  avenue.  All 
these  are  now  under  the  management  and  control  of  the  great 
capitalist  and  railroad  king,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt.  These  are 
the  Hudson  River,  New  York  Central,  and  the  Harlem,  which 
connect  the  metropolis  with  the  interior  of  this  State  and  the 
Western  States.  The  New  York  and  New  Haven  carries 
passengers  and  freight  to  the  Eastern  States,  and  starts  from 


62 


CITY  CARS  AXn  FERRIES. 


the  same  depot,  below  which  steam  is  not  allowed  on 
the  city  streets.  Five  railroads  connect  the  city  with  the 
interior  of  Lon^^  Island,  all  having  their  terminus  on  the 
Long  Island  side  of  the  East  River,  These  are  the  Long 
Island  Railroad  to  Greenport  at  the  eastern  extremity  of 
the  island,  the  South  Side  to  Patchogue,  the  Flushing  and 
North  Side  to  Great  Neck,  the  Central  to  l^abylon,  the  late 
construction  of  A.  T.  Stewart.  From  the  Jersey  shore  the 
Erie  Railway  runs  through  the  State  to  Buffalo,  thence  to 
the  Western  States,  and  communications  are  maintained  by 
an  endless  network  of  roads  which  centre  at  Jersey  City,  with 
the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  The  average  speed  on 
these  roads  is  about  thirty  miles  an  hour. 

The  travel  was  for  a  long  period  confined  to  stages,  which, 
under  the  name  of  omnibuses,  reached  their  height  in  1851, 
when  there  were  twenty-four  lines.  A  few  lines  still  remain, 
but  they  are  gradually  disappearing.  Our  older  inhabitants 
remember  the  palmy  days  of  the  famous  lines  of  Kipp  and 
Brown,  the  Chelsea  and  Knickerbocker.  The  first  city  rail- 
road for  horse-cars  was  the  Sixth  Avenue,  established  in 
1852.  The  Harlem  R.  R.  Company  had  used  this  mode  of 
conveyance  at  an  earlier  day,  but  rather  as  an  adjunct  to  their 
steam  line  than  as  a  convenience  for  city  travel.  The  last 
report  of  the  State  Engineer  for  1872  gives  the  number  of 
passengers  carried  as  134,588,877,  at  fares  varying  from  five 
to  eight  cents.  The  steam  elevated  road,  the  pioneer  of 
rapid  transit,  carried  the  same  year  167,153  passengers,  at  a 
fare  of  ten  cents.  The  ingenuity  of  the  best  engineers  is  now 
tested  to  devise  some  mode  of  rapid  transit  which  may  keep 
pace  with  the  increase  of  travel,  already  outrunning  all 
present  acconmiodation. 

The  first  use  of  steam  on  ferries  was  on  the  Jersey  City 
Ferry,  in  July,  181 2.  To-day  there  are  twenty-three  ferries, 
all  steam,  connecting  NewYork  with  the  w^est  shore  of  the  Hud- 
son, Hoboken  and  Jersey  City,  Staten  Island  and  Long  Island. 
The  boats  to  Brooklyn  and  Hoboken  run  every  five  to  ten 
minutes  by  day,  and  every  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes  by  night, 
at  fares  ranging  from  two  to  four  cents  each  passenger.  The 


POSTAL  COMMCXICATIOX. 


63 


official  returns  made  to  the  city  authorities  in  1865  reported  the 
number  of  passengers  carried  at  82,321,274.  The  system  of 
leasing  the  ferries  has  taken  this  valuable  franchise  from  city 
supervision,  but  the  natural  increase  of  the  city  and  suburbs 
would  carry  this  number  to  100,000,000  as  the  lowest  estimate 
for  the  present  year.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  estimate  of  the 
persons  who  enter  and  leave  the  city  every  day  for  purposes 
of  business  is  not  less  than  300,000.  These  facts  seem  to  in- 
dicate that  the  centre  of  the  travel  of  the  city  and  suburbs, 
of  which  the  cities  on  the  opposite  shores  are,  practically,  part, 
is  not  far  distant  from  the  City  Hall  Park. 

In  1790  the  Hackney  Coach  stand  was  at  the  Cofifee-House, 
and  the  charge  one  shilling  per  mile.  In  1875  there  were 
1,800  licensed  coaches  in  the  cit}'.  Yet  the  city  is  in  great 
need  of  some  improvement  in  the  present  cab  system,  for 
w^hich  Paris  and  London  offer  such  admirable  models. 

The  mails  were  carried  in  the  early  days  by  men  on  horse- 
back. In  1673  the  post  rider  began  his  trips  to  and  from 
Boston  once  in  three  weeks. 

During  the  exciting  period  which  preceded  the  Revolution, 
the  famous  Paul  Revere,  about  whose  name,  as  the  Express 
Rider  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  cluster  memories  as  sacred  as 
those  which  attach  to  the  Grecian  runner  who  brought  the 
holy  fire  from  the  Delphic  altar,  kept  the  communication  be- 
tween Boston  and  New  York,  and  Cornelius  Bradford  between 
New  York  and  Philadelphia.  As  an  instance  of  the  speed 
of  these  journeys,  it  is  recorded  in  the  journals  of  1789  that 
John  Adams,  then  at  Braintree,  received  despatches  from 
Congress  in  fifty  hours.  In  1775  the  mails  were  made  up  in 
New  York  twice  each  week  for  Boston,  once  for  Albany  and 
Quebec,  and  three  times  for  Philadelphia  and  southward. 
In  the  winter  the  Albany  post  was  carried  on  foot.  In  1783 
the  post-office  was  kept  in  a  private  house,  at  No.  38  Smith 
street,  where  the  postmaster  dated  his  notices  and  made  up 
his  mails.  In  18 10  the  amount  received  for  postages  in  New 
York  was  $60,000  ;  in  1826,  $113,893.71,  and  twenty-five 
persons,  including  clerks,  letter-carriers,  etc.,  were  employed 
in  the  post-office.    To-day  the  mammoth  structure  at  the 


64 


T  i:  L  i:  G  R  A  r  1 1 1  c  c  o  m  m  u  n  i  c  a  t  i  o  x  . 


southern  angle  of  the  City  Park  is  one  of  the  chief  ornaments 
of  the  city.  I^esides  this  great  building  there  are  twenty 
branch  stations  ;  the  total  force  employed,  including  carriers, 
•who  make  seven  daily  deliveries,  numbers  1,193.  In  the 
year  1874  there  were  delivered  by  carriers  33,689,117  letters 
and  postal  cards,  and  16,634,475  city  letters  ;  the  postage 
received  amounting  to  $2,589,384.94. 

]\Iore  remarkable  is  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  system  of 
telegraphic  communication.  The  Western  Union  Company, 
in  addition  to  its  large  and  convenient  structure,  has  90 
branch  offices  in  the  city  alone,  employing  371  operators, 
214  messengers,  and  238  clerks  and  other  employes.  In 
the  year  1875,  messages  passed  over  its  wires  in  the  city  to 
the  number  of  242,316,  and  from  the  city  to  other  points 
1,543,878,  in  all  1,786,914,  or  more  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
total  messages,  numbering  17,153,710,  which  passed  over  the 
lines  of  this  mammoth  company  in  the  year  mentioned. 

Of  hardly  less  interest  to  the  citizen  is  the  American  Dis- 
trict Telegraph  Company,  one  of  the  most  useful  adjuncts  of 
modern  city  life  ;  valuable  also  in  that  it  employs  boys  in 
its  service,  and  trains  them  to  habits  of  promptness  and  fidel- 
ity, which  will  in  time  show  good  results  in  efificient  public 
labor  of  more  important  kinds.  This  company,  organized 
in  1 87 1,  has  now  3,700  instruments  in  houses,  public  and 
private,  throughout  the  city,  and  a  staff  of  500  messenger 
boys.  In  the  past  year  they  delivered  1,107,454  calls,  of 
which  580,886  were  their  own  district  business,  the  remainder 
deliveries  for  the  Western  Union,  with  w^hose  local  offices 
they  are  connected.  In  addition  to  this  service  they  deliv- 
ered 1,890,600  circulars  and  cards  of  various  kinds. 

It  only  remains  to  show^  the  progress  in  the  value  of  taxa- 
ble property  in  the  city  to  complete  the  showing  of  its  growth 
and  establish  its  progress  in  the  century,  1776  to  1876,  which 
has  been  under  consideration.  In  1801,  the  total  valuation 
of  the  real  and  personal  estate  of  the  City  and  County  of 
New  York  was  $21,964,037.  The  official  valuation  in  1875 
was,  of  real  estate,  $883,643,845,  and  of  personal  property  at 
$217,300,154 — a  grand  total  of  $1,100,943,699.     To  this 


TAXABLE  PROPERTV. 


65 


must  be  added  the  large  amount  of  personal  property  exempt 
from  taxation  held  by  individuals  and  associations,  certainly 
not  less  than  $300,000,000,  and  the  sum  of  property  will  be 
found  to  reach  $1,500,000,000.  Great  complaint  is  made  at 
this  time  of  the  depression  of  business,  but  allowance  must 
be  made  for  the  extreme  expectations  of  our  business  men, 
accustomed  as  they  are  to  the  rapid  successes  of  the  past. 
Surely,  when  the  foreign  trade  alone  of  New  York  reached  the 
sum  of  $735,000,000  in  the  year  1874,  there  is  still  some 
hope  left  for  the  future.  Evidently  the  grass  is  not  to  grow 
in  the  streets  this  decade,  and  the  glory  of  the  city  is  not 
Avholly  departed  !  It  is  peculiar  to  the  life  of  great  cities 
that  depression  in  one  branch  of  trade  is  the  cause  of  increase 
and  thriving  in  other  ways,  and  that  there  is  a  constant  com- 
pensating balance  between  the  richer  and  poorer  classes  of 
society.  Economy  and  extravagance  follow  each  other  in 
alternate  rise  and  fall,  and  with  its  injuries,  each  metes  out  its 
benefits  to  the  community  as  well  as  to  individuals,  while 
stimulated  in  turn  by  each  alternately,  the  life  of  the  city 
itself  maintains  its  health  and  vigor,  all  the  better  perhaps 
because  of  the  change. 

The  marvels  we  have  witnessed  in  the  present  century  in 
the  use  of  steam,  and  the  development  of  the  electric  and 
magnetic  forces,  which  now  seem  destined  to  supersede  it  as 
motors,  are  reasonable  grounds  for  hope  of  new  applications 
and  new  discoveries  as  marvellous.  What  changes  they  are 
to  make  in  the  life  of  mankind  none  may  prophesy,  but  it  is 
not  unsafe  to  predict  that  New  York  will  continue  to  grow 
and  prosper,  to  become  greater  and  wealthier  in  the  same 
increasing  ratio  as  in  the  past,  and  that  the  values  of  1885 
will  show  as  wondrous  an  advance  over  those  of  1875  as  those 
of  1875  over  those  of  1865.  What  its  progress  may  be  in 
another  century  no  intelligence  can  measure,  no  imagination 
conceive. 

In  the  rapid  summary  of  New  York  progress  a  large  field 
of  interest  has  been  left  wholly  untouched — perhaps  the  most 
important  field  of  all,  that  of  political  government.  No- 
where in  the  history  of  modern  civilization  has  the  experiment 


66 


CIVIL  GOVERNMENT. 


of  popular  government  been  more  severely  tried  than  in  this 
city,  where  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  foreign  immigration 
which  has  built  up  the  national  prosperity  has  been  received, 
and  so  small  a  proportion  of  the  better  element  of  that  immigra- 
tion been  retained.  The  best  minds  of  the  community  have 
been  turned,  and  are  still  turned,  to  that  serious  question  in 
popular  government,  the  harmonizing  of  strong  local  govern- 
ment with  the  principle  of  universal  suffrage.  The  history 
of  our  city  charters  is  that  of  a  series  of  experiments  to  this 
end. 

Piobably  its  solution  will  be  found  in  the  results  of  the 
constant,  unremitting,  and  noble  efforts  in  which  thousands 
of  our  citizens  of  both  sexes  are  daily  engaged  to  raise  the 
moral  and  physical  standard  of  our  population,  and  fit  them 
for  the  blessings  which  the  experience  of  history  has  shown 
that  no  other  form  of  government  than  the  republican  is 
capable  of  bestowing  with  equal  hand  upon  the  rich  and  the 
poor.  The  coming  century  will  resolve  this  difficult  question. 
If  history  provide  the  element  of  prophecy,  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  the  solution  will  be  in  favor  of  individual  liberty  and 
popular  government. 

In  thanking  you  for  your  kind  attention,  I  beg  to  urge  the 
necessity  of  a  warm  and  generous  support  to  this  institution, 
in  which  alone  the  materials  of  a  history  of  our  great  city  are 
to  be  found,  and  to  note  my  own  deep  obligation  to  the  effi- 
cient assistant  librarian,  Mr.  William  Kelby,  who  is  himself 
an  accurate  living  compendium  of  knowledge  on  every  sub- 
ject of  historical  interest  concerning  New  York. 


r 


